Shiver me Timbers!
by wolfd890
Summary: He'd slumbered in Hoth's cold embrace for millennia before being exhumed by the Alliance. Could he help them defeat the Empire? A HP SW crossover(obviously)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star wars or Harry Potter. George Lucas (…or Disney now) and JKR do. I just write for the lolz.**

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A loud wailing sound ripped the exhausted young man from slumber hard enough that he involuntarily flinched and gasped. Eyelids shot open immediately, revealing two brilliant green orbs. With practiced ease he slammed his palm over the big red spring actuated button, robbing the blaring horn of power. Harry Potter sighed, rubbing both hands over his eyes to remove the grit that a few precious hours of sleep had managed to accumulate. The rusty old cot creaked loudly as he swung his legs over the side. He'd have to repair it soon lest the bloody thing fell apart with him on it.

Speaking of repairing. The sparsely dressed wizard rose and strode over towards the user console, the only other object in the spartan quarters he'd allowed himself. In recent years luxuries such as reading, watching the teli or even sitting down for a quit meal were becoming rarer.

He couldn't afford those distractions anymore, so why clutter his room with them. The reason was this dilapidated place. The walls were a dull gray, and obvious imperfections from the hasty construction methods could easily be made out. Aggregate that hadn't properly been compacted, large cracks from the growing geological stresses on the facility. Moisture seeping into those cracks, slowly but surely eroding the reinforcing steel hidden within. The list went on. But those were not even close to being the biggest worries on his mind right now.

Several sections of the screen flashed red over a plan view of the facility, while even more glowed a dull orange. The red obviously needed immediate attention. The source of his rude awakening.

"Bugger me", the raven haired man muttered, glossing over status reports and error messages compiled by the bases computer system. In a flurry of movement his fingers danced over the glass interface. He paused at one point, and the frown he'd woken up with deepening even more.

"The hell? I just fixed this section yesterday!" he protested to one in particular. Another few minutes and he'd compiled a workload for the day which was transferred to a rectangular datapad.

With a better idea of what his workday looked like, the British Wizard got dressed. Black standard issue combat boots, cargo pants, a plain white tee. A far cry from the clothes he'd come to favor back when he'd been enrolled in the Auror Corps.

Those had all but fallen apart a long time ago, charms or no. What he wore now had been found in a dusty old Pelican case, courtesy of the US military, who'd banded together with the United Kingdom to build this place. A specially made gauntlet latched onto his arm. Inside the small space rested three very special items. A single stone, cloak, and wooden stick.

The Hallows.

They'd allowed him to watch over this place for as long as he had. Granted him a body that could not die, though he was beginning to wonder if the mind was another matter. The regular self-obviations he performed regarding the more mundane things helped. Harry estimated he'd read and re-read the contents of the Hogwarts library a dozen times over just in volume alone.

Of course useful content like that he didn't just wipe. But Novels, works of fiction were another story. Fortunately the muggles had lots of those to occupy himself with. But as mentioned before in recent years that downtime happened less and less as the manmade structure began to waste away under time's relentless assault.

He donned a thick winter coat that had more patches than original material and applied heating charms to himself. His quarters were near the top of the underground base. Originally they had been lower, but the time it took to ascend the thousand or more feet of staircases (elevators drew power after all) he could have already been to the surface and fixing whatever need fixing.

The surface, right. Not a very nice place. Harry of course didn't know the full story of the how and why, and probably never would. Bottom line was that Earth was gripped in an ice age, the likes of which humanity had never been seen.

Before the last of the nuclear powered muggle satellites went dark they'd established that all of Earth, right down to the equator was covered in thick ice sheets. Unbelievably thick ice. The muggles thought it was because of pollution that blocked much of the sun's rays. Others theorized that the rapid climate change caused the jet stream to migrate further south. Reflective ice claimed the northern regions of Europe and much of Asia. More light reflected meant less absorbed.

Whatever the reason, they had enough foresight to prepare. The ice grew outward, creeping down the lower latitudes like an unstoppable bulldozer.

Harry had been assigned to the Muggle Prime minister early on in his career, chosen because of his familiarity with the Muggles, and as such was more aware of the planets unavertable demise than most Magicals.

The few wizards that listened to his warnings were allowed to join. Unfortunately as always the closed-mindedness of his magical brethren proved to be their downfall. Iceland was still close enough to the UK to appartate. Last time he'd been there the deep vaults of Gringotts were all that was left. Living conditions were deplorable. Harry had rescued as many as he could.

The base, like the bank was of course deep underground. Far enough that the abrasive glaciers that soon dotted the landscape could not reach. Their slow passage could be heard through the solid rock. A steady grinding sound that never ceased.

After a while it simply became background noise. Powered by geothermal energy, in theory this place could have functioned forever. Everything was recycled. Water, air, waste. Greenhouses grew food, Bunkers full of seeds would provide the building blocks of a future after the ice. But the size of the structure meant that only a limited amount of people could dwell here. Enough to keep a viable gene pool and carry on watching over and maintaining the staggeringly huge number of souls sleeping in the adjacent cryo storage facility. Ten thousand souls. It had been planned well, and did work for many years.

Right until the quakes.

The facility had been carved from the relatively new igneous rock formed by Iceland's lava flows. An area rich in thermal springs due to the close proximity of the hot mantle under their feet. Power was drawn from this hot core by pumping water down and harnessing the steam that rose up.

Turbines. Harry had learnt a lot about how muggles generated electricity in those first few years. But the lines were severed. Some of the scientists speculated that with the huge weight of the ice on the tectonic plates were shifting in ways they couldn't even begin to model. No steam meant to power.

They'd tried to majik the turbines to spin without the power of the core, but without lay lines to power to sustain the spell it was impossible. Harry and the other Wizards and Witches felt the magic of the planet fluctuate wildly as the lines themselves shifted. Hogwarts, or what was left of it was undoubtedly not even over an intersecting pair of the powerful lines any more.

The shaking was intense, and occurred multiple times every day for months. Were it not for the strengthening runes carved on the concrete walls the base would have been destroyed. Several other countries had similar facilities as well. The surface communication lines were severed during the prolonged event. They likely suffered the same fate as the US/UK joint venture.

Perhaps the Russians made it? They opted to use massive nuclear reactors, stockpiling tones of enriched uranium and plutonium that had a half-life of tens of thousands of years. But there had no way of knowing for sure, or of contacting them.

Seismic Morse code was one option they'd tried. But after days of repeating the message the decision was made to conserve power. One by one the maintenance populace went to sleep, perhaps for the last time. Eventually only Harry remained.

With only the sound of his rubber soles hitting the icy cold rungs of the ladder he set out.

'How long had it been now? Decades? Centuries?' He'd promised himself to keep track. But that was back when calendars meant something. And even atomic powered clocks only lasted so long. An ever moving mechanical clock with gears and cogs then. Yes, That would work.

Too bad he hadn't thought of it sooner. But then again who could blame him? After all, something as trivial as telling time wasn't exactly a high priority when trying to save the human race, magical and muggle. All power went to chambers, meaning the computer clocks reset every night. Heck for most of the day he didn't even have life support. Not a big deal when one human had several hundred thousand cubic feet of breathable air. The scrubbers more than made up for his usage in the few hours they operated. And heat? Well, being several kilometers inside the crust the temperature was actually rather nice. A design concept no doubt. The base was a constant twenty-three degrees centigrade. Room temperature.

Harry considered waking one of his colleagues from long term cryo storage. Despite not knowing exactly how long he'd been isolated, the number must have been quite large. He squashed the thought. Power in the ancient facility was already critically low. A sudden spike in consumption might be enough to cripple the entire grid. No, he couldn't risk it.

Harry opened the heavy latch at the top of the ladder that lead to the emergency air shaft. He shook his head, once again done weighing the pro's and con's of human company. The main entrance had long ago been sheared away by the advancing ice slabs.

Technically the air shaft had as well. early on the emailing magicals had sealed the top with a granite block cork and tunneled sideways towards the nearest mountain peak. Constantly vanishing the solid rock had taken months, but as suspected the peaks were bare.

With a connection to the surface the ever present sun could once more be tapped for power. Thick glass plates shielded the solar panels from the elements, allowing the reflective blue surfaces to track the sun's progress through the sky.

Winter was always the hardest, because at its peak the sun would only come up for a few precious hours. It was barely enough to charge the huge banks of deep cycle batteries originally meant as backups. Now they were stretched to last the long and cold nights during the winter months.

The tunnel was pitch black. Harry had given up trying to make time to install lights along the path. Normally he'd apparate, but the problem was not with the panels themselves but the conduits.

He slipped a focusing lens over his wand tip and muttered a _lumos._ The magical beam of light cut through the darkness like a muggle torch. A splendid invention of a Yank engineer he'd befriended many years ago.

Though proficient with wordless casting, Harry rarely spoke anymore so any chance to use those dusty vocal cords was gladly taken, even if it made him sound like a first year. Thick power supply lines snaked their way along the dull black floor, running from the solar cells miles above ground to 'Phoenix' base, as his friends and colleagues dubbed it.

A silly name for sure, but his people hoped that one day their legacy could rise from the proverbial ashes and reclaim the planet. His people… When had he started referring to them as such? Well, he did watch over them. Labored every day to keep them alive. They were his to protect. Well, if the shoe fit.

Soon he came across the first problem. A partial cave in over a weak section of tunnel had damaged some of the 'smaller' armored conduits. He vanished the rubble and braced the ceiling with transfigured steel beams. Wood was easier to create, but even down here the fibrous material only lasted a few years before disintegrating.

The conduit had a sizable dent, which no doubt severed some of the copper lines hidden within. Impressive considering it was the diameter of his torso and clad in two inches of pure titanium. A quick _reparo_ took care of the damage. Harry repeated the process further down the very long tunnel before finally apparating to the solar dome. There he pulled one of the panels apart for routine maintenance. He'd need all of them operational for the coming Solstice.

Halfway through the task he paused and sat back. Though he didn't come up here very often this was one of his favorite places. The views during the day were stunning, despite all the white. But at night the Northern Lights put on a light show that, at least for a little bit made this gargantuan task all worth it. The shimmering greens and purples cast a faint glow over the crystalized landscape.

It was beautiful.

Harry pulled a small radio from his coat and flicked it on. For a few minutes the silence was broken by a voice long dead, the only existing copy most likely being his decapitated cassette collection.

A single tear slipped down his cheek, slowed by the stick stubble that had accumulated over the last few days. He pulled a familiar photo from his back pocket. It was a bit dog-eared but otherwise in good condition, courtesy of the preservation charms placed on it.

It showed him and his best friends, dressed in formal Hogwarts ceremonial robes. Their graduation ceremony. Because of the Horcrux hunt he, Ron and Hermione had all officially finished school with the sixth years. Ginny, Luna. Even Neville, though he did take his NEWTS in '98. Of course they were all long dead. Old age had claimed them all, while he continued living. He missed them.

Harry tucked the moving picture away and rose with a grunt. There was a lot that needed to be done today. No rest for the wicked it seemed.

The panel was put together quickly and diagnostics showed it to be fully operational, though with no light to catch it remained on standby, just like the rest. Harry was about to head back inside his warm lair when a faint vibration caused him to pause.

A tremor? There hasn't been any tectonic activity for a long time.

Unbeknownst to him the steady attrition of the ice against the hard granite had gouged a path past the peak that held the solar array. With its base compromised, the billions of tons of rock were moments from falling victim to gravity, another constant that never changed.

The ground gave way. But not just where he stood. The whole peak was going. A brief sense of vertigo enveloped him as the entire dome plunged down the steep embankment and into the glacier filled valley below. Harry didn't even have time to think about apparating before he connected with the bare rock underneath him. The glass semi-sphere shattered, along with everything else around him. Harry felt a brief rush of cold air before being claimed by sweet oblivion.

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 **A/N: A few months ago someone asked me if I had any plans on writing a Starwars HP crossover. I declined. Then the 7th movie approached, and I got caught up in Star Wars fever like everyone else. And so here we are. I'm not sure where I want to go with this, and this may not be updated anytime soon due to the HP/SG-1 fic I'm working on. I'm open to suggestions, so if you have a cool plot you'd like to share I'm all ears! One thing I immediately decided not to do was use the veil as an interdimensional transport. It was so overdone from what I'd read that I decided to go another route. Something unique. Of course I haven't read all the works out there but I'm confident no one has compared Erath to an Ice age Earth.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all for the positive responses. I can't believe the amount of interest this is generating, and to be honest it's making me nervous. I hope I can live up to your expectations. If you find anything wrong with the story feel free to contact me and let me know. I appreciate and value suggestions, just keep it polite please. Enjoy!**

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Leia Organa, former Princess of Alderaan and Alliance Commander of this particular Icy hellhole watched in despair as the thick blast doors of the main hanger slowly moved closer together. Though the acting commanding officer was General Rieekan, she was tasked with handling base operations on this world.

It had been a smart decision to seek out a planet as inhospitable as Hoth to hide on, but by the Gods this place was awful. Carved out of solid ice, the base with the exception of a few core spaces like the command center and the infirmary were unheated. That included all Officer Quarters.

Needless to say the nights were most unpleasant. Equipment froze, personnel morale was at an all-time low, and to top it off that airhead Solo kept hitting on her like she was some Twi'lek escort. It annoyed her to no end. Just this afternoon he announced his intentions to leave after being shot down by her yet again.

So because she continued to rebuff his advances the man had the audacity to quit? As if that would sway her. And his so called reason? Paying off a debt owed to some disgusting Hutt on Tatooine. Ludicrous! Since when did that petty criminal care about repaying someone?

But no, all of those things were minor compared to the situation she currently found herself in. Two base personnel were missing, both Alliance Commanders in the middle of what was set to be the largest blizzard recorded to date! That idiot had really gone out to look for Luke knowing it meant certain death!

Chewbacca wailed in frustration as the heavy metal doors closed with a hiss, sealing the complex for the night. She'd have joined the Wockie if it weren't for her upbringing. Leia closed her eyes, ignoring C3PO's rambling and left for her Quarters.

She didn't care for company right now, and the mask she wore every day was beginning to crack. In a few more minutes she could let it slip altogether. Having the luxury of her own private quarters allowed her at least that.

Initially she'd shared a room with the other female officers, but as soon as the second phase of expansion began the General had her relocated. In contrast the men often bunked up in groups of four or more. The base was still being expanded into the massively thick ice slab the Alliance had selected, and she'd asked them to bear with the inconvenience just a little longer. Doing so made Leia feel like a hypocrite.

She passed several personnel, each time nodding curtly when they passed her before finally reaching the scuffed white door that led to her sparsely furnished accommodations. She quickly slipped off her heavy parka and insulated pants, taking them with her under the thick blankets.

Her fair skin was covered in Goosebumps, which she tried to rid herself off by rubbing her hands on the exposed skin. The action only served to fuel for her hate of this place even more. If she was freezing under the thick covers within the relatively warm base what would Han and Luke feel like? Tears began to form on the corners of her eyes. She sniffed, feeling them roll over the bridge of her nose and onto the pillow.

It felt as though only minutes had passed when a knock sounded on her door. Her eyes were still a bit puffy, and she hoped no one would notice in the dim light. The Alliance looked up to her, and she needed to appear strong, even if she was scared and oh so tired on the inside.

The war had dragged on as long as she's been alive, and every year the rebels had to make due with less and less. Her home was gone. The successful destruction of the Death Star seemed a lifetime ago, and there were rumors that a second even bigger station was being constructed.

The princess rolled off her cot and shuddered as she left the warm cocoon that she'd managed to make for herself. Leia honestly had a hard time keeping from freezing. Alderaan had been temperate, but not hot unless you ventured down towards the lowlands, where it was humid. Or used to be anyway.

"Yes?" she asked with an even tone, maybe adding a hint of irritation. It was late after all, even if she hadn't slept a wink all night. The maintenance tech saluted her, looking deeply sorry for rousing his superior. His eyes briefly drifted down before snapping back up to meet hers. She crossed her arms.

"Your highness, I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion, but we found something!"

"Commander Skywalker or Solo?" Despite not deserving the title she still addressed the smuggler with respect, at least when mentioned out loud. Curse her proper upbringing!

"I'm afraid not ma'am." The tech felt bad for getting her hopes up. He should have rephrased his report better, the man thought, watching her brief hope evaporate.

"Please, follow me. I'm not quite sure what to make of it." Leia nodded, pausing to fetch her Alliance issued winter gear. The tech explained on the way.

"We were using the low energy chemical laser to expand the North side holding area…"She nodded. Those crews worked in rotating shifts around the clock making this place bigger. "...but not even five minutes into the first cut the security protocols activated. They normally come on when we hit methane pockets in the ice."

Leia humored the man and let him ramble on as they navigated the maze like corridors. "I entered to release the gas and came across…it."

"It?" the Princess asked cautiously, sidestepping a large machine sitting off to the side of the corridor they'd yet to find a home for. There had been reports of some native life forms on this planet, but the Alliance hadn't had a chance to study them yet. Surly he meant they'd found one. If so it would be a first, but certainly not anything that couldn't wait until tomorrow.

The two Rebel personnel arrived in the storage room, the bulky machine sitting idle off to the side. Strewn about were several pieces of scrap, twisted beyond recognition. Shards of glass, easily mistaken for ice crystals also littered the frozen floor. She looked at the tech. "What's this?"

He shook his head. "Not sure. We've been coming across this stuff for weeks now. We analyzed the debris. It's a form of tempered glass. The metal is an iron carbon alloy. It doesn't occur naturally." The small pieces of glass crunched under her boots as they made her way over towards the wall.

"Here" the tech pointed at hole in the corner, clearly where the energy beam had carved into the ancient ice. A flexible hose snaked into the void, presumably to suck any melt water away and out of the compound. It was very dark, so Leia switched on her small flashlight and shone it into the hole.

She gasped. A pale blue face stared back at her, eyes open, mouth slightly agape. Even more surprising was that she recognized the species almost immediately. It was human.

After overcoming her initial surprise she peered back into the freshly formed melt hole. Yes, clearly human. A male from the looks of it. Leia turned back to the tech. "The ice was dated when we arrived correct?"

The man nodded. "Fifteen thousand years. We made sure that the base wasn't being built on an active glacier. This ice field hasn't moved in a very long time."

She knew this of course, having been directly involved in selecting an adequate site for Echo base. But she also knew that frozen organics, at least not human ones didn't look this preserved, especially after fifteen millennia.

She may have been royalty, but her education was second to none, and that included sciences such as Biology. Distant ancestors discovered near the snow covered poles had provided valuable insight into how Alderaan's people lived a long time ago. The shriveled mummies they'd uncovered were a mere few thousand years old.

Yet this…man looked like he was encapsulated here yesterday. Leia studied his features more closely. His skin was white as ash, lips were a deep blue colour. But those eyes. They practically glowed with energy. The colour was intense. She'd never seen someone with Green eyes like this. Something odd happened then as her pen light continued traveling over his features. She did it twice more to be sure.

'By the gods" she whispered. His pupils were dilating as the artificial light found them.

She squirmed into the hole, stopping a mere inches from his face and repeated the process. No doubt. The Princess studied how he was positioned in the ice for a few moments. His body was curled up, facing mostly downwards.

A few digits of a hand protruded from the smooth ice. Satisfied, she extracted herself and ordered the laser fired up. With her standard issue knife she outlined the path it would travel for the next half hour or so. The tech was instructed to begin immediately. Leia meanwhile raced to the command center to inform her superior.

"General Rieekan, could I spare a moment of your time?" She had come to expect finding the man here. Insomniac, he'd stated back when she was placed under his command three years ago. While she was one of the few that could lecture the man on his habits, Leia wouldn't do so tonight.

The General seemed to have the exact same idea though, and fully expected her to mother him, despite being young enough to be his daughter. A born leader, Carlist Rieekan concluded with a faint smirk.

"To what do I owe the pleasure your Highness?" the man stated gently, reflecting the calm, quit command center during the graveyard shift. Leia frowned at the title but ignored it. She'd told him a million times not to call her that anymore.

"Sir, there's something you need to see." She sounded remarkably similar to the maintenance tech that had informed her a few minutes before. The commander simply nodded. Leia wouldn't waste his time unless it was important. She led him to the storage room, currently illuminated by the pale yellow light of the laser. The tech was just about done with the circular cut he'd made in the wall. She pointed at the left side of said circle and gave him her flashlight.

The general peered inside and cursed. "Is he…?"

The Princess nodded. "Sir's, I'm almost done here!" The tech switched off the wheeled device and darkness once again shrouded the storage room. Leia and the tech wasted no time and hung themselves off the cylinder shaped slug of ice.

The added weight was too much for the material and it separated with an audible snap from the rest of the ice. What they were left with was a human Popsicle. With hand tools several alliance NCO's chiseled the mysterious humanoid from its resting place.

He wore clothing it seemed, though it was in very poor shape. Strange, considering how immaculate the rest of the body was. Leia ordered the men around while Rieekan observed, not really interested in returning to his post just yet. The command center was quiet as a crypt at night, and this was actually interesting.

Despite being freed from the ice the human was very much rigid. They couldn't even peel the layers of clothing off his body without risking damage. They hauled him onto a hover cart and wheeled him into the infirmary. There several radiant heaters were placed around him. Leia settled on the waiting room's padded benches, glad to be somewhere warm for once. The sound of water droplets dripping onto the Durasteel floor plating was hypnotic as the Princess gazed upon the man.

The medical droids monitored him at her direct orders, though still insisted that he was dead. She'd demonstrated the pupil dilation and told them to zip it unless they could come up with a proper explanation.

Were it not for that small sign of life the Alliance would have kept him frozen, to study and preserve the remains. Leia wrapped her arms around her knees, basking in the warm surroundings. Surely they were remains. She'd gotten caught up in the heat of the moment before. In front of her rested a solidly frozen human corpse. There was nothing, nothing that could preserve living tissue like this apart from Carbon Freezing.

Yet despite science and logic and common sense that all told her he was beyond help, there was a sliver of hope that refused to leave her. Like a faint ember that couldn't be extinguished. She continued staring at him, willing him to move. To take a breath, move his fingers. Anything!

She'd remained still so long that at first Leia thought it was her mind playing tricks on her. The faintest amount of movement from the cart. Perhaps as he unthawed the body slowly uncurled? She hugged her legs tighter, hoping to ward of the chill not outside but in her heart. Were her friends as frozen as he?

Again she made the mistake of letting her mind wander back to Luke and Han. She redoubled her focus, trying to push her treacherous thoughts of that moronic smuggler out of her head. Luke was much more respectful.

They'd survived the destruction of the infamous death star together. They'd rescued her. She felt a connection to them. And they were out there. Probably as dead as her new friend. Leia couldn't contain her frustration and worry any longer. Moisture gathered in her eyes until large hot tears spilled over for the second time that night. She didn't try to stem them this time. What was the point?

oOo

Exited chatter and beeping woke her some time later. She found herself leaning against the sterile white walls of the Medical module. A blanket had been draped over her. The droids were doing something it seemed.

She looked around and found the hover cart to be empty and covered in water droplets. Where was he? The thin material slipped from her shoulder, pooling on the ground. Her eyes stopped when she glanced through the window and into the treatment room.

The Bacta tank. There was someone in there! She scrambled off the lounger and entered the operating area.

"What happened?" Why is he in there?" The droid rotated its head to address her. "Ma'am, the subject began showing signs of life around 04:30. Both cardio pulmonary and respiratory functions have resumed. He is currently being treated for severe hypothermia and cellular tissue damage."

Leia gazed at the mask wearing individual.

"Incredible." She whispered. He was lean, not excessively muscular but athletic. There was next to no body fat. Faint scars could be seen crisscrossing his body, still impossibly white against his now lobster red skin. Some looked like they could have killed him.

There was also a metal gauntlet firmly attached to his forearm. She wondered why the droids hadn't removed it. Leia turned back to the robot.

"Inform me when you're ready to wake him." She ordered before leaving. It was nearing dawn, and the first patrols were due to leave in order to look for their missing personnel. She needed to join Rieekan for their briefing.

The Commander and General were just wrapping up with the pilots when the Med bay relayed that he was about to be discharged. Surprised at the rapid improvement she invited the General to accompany her.

"Are you saying he's alive?" the older man asked skeptically.

Leia nodded, her demeanor nothing but professional. "I didn't believe it myself, but the subject is in the final stages of Bacta treatment."

oOo

The green viscous fluid had quickly reversed the extensive frostbite his body had suffered, aided by the healing properties of the Hallows. Vitals stabilized and BP dropped to reasonable levels. With the body healed the mind came back from its prolonged absence.

Harry had been drifting in and out of consciousness for a while before properly coming too. He was confused. And cold. Very cold. Where was he? It was hard to concentrate. He tried in vain to remember the last thing he'd done.

Something green and purple. The Aurora Borialis! He'd been watching them. After that everything was just…gone. A little bit of exploratory movement rewarded him with a dull pain. Not in any one spot, but everywhere, like he'd been Crucio'd for a while.

Ignoring the throbbing sensation in his limbs Harry cracked open an eye, and immediately shut it again. Everything was blurry. But not because of his vision problem. That had been fixed for ages. Was he wearing a mask? Yes, he could hear his own breathing clearly. Like when you went Scuba Diving. He was surrounded in a liquid substance. With the sensation of being submerged in fluid processed he opened both eyes.

Harry could see two individuals, a middle aged man and a girl. He immediately categorized her as a child due to her short disposition. They wore heavy white coats and cream coloured vests. Harry looked around, grinding his teeth to cope with the jolts of pains shooting up and down his back. His surroundings looked alien. White walls, big panels with dozens of blinking lights. This definitely wasn't Phoenix base. Movement on his right caught his attention and he forgot how to breathe for a moment.

Both the Princess and General Rieekan observed as the previously frozen human came to. His eyes widened when the medical droid came to give its status update. By all accounts he'd been clinically dead an hour ago. It was surreal.

The machinery released the waist halter's magnetic release and their guest floated to the top of the tank. The two alliance personnel had the decency to turn as the droid stripped him down and handed him a towel. Harry stared at the robot like he was a five year old who'd just met the bloody tooth fairy.

The clothes given to him were form-fitting and comfortable. Much better than the stiff American stuff he was used to wearing. Getting them on proved to be a bit of a challenge however. His body was stiff, and didn't respond as well as he'd like. He was pleased to see that the gauntlet was still with him.

To be expected, it had a permanent sticking charm that was password activated. He did note that the charm was rather weak. Odd, considering he'd applied it to himself not too long ago. The white door between the treatment and waiting room opened with a faint swish and he was nudged through by the droid, who deemed him healthy and therefor wanted him out, medical marvel or not.

The two he'd seen a few minutes prior were waiting in the small room. Harry eyed them warily, not sure what say, much less do.

" _You gave us quite a scare Stranger. Might I ask how you came to find yourself in the ice of this planet?"_

To Harry the words sounded foreign. There was definitely structure, but he couldn't understand a word. In the past he'd never had issues identifying a language, even if he didn't speak it.

"I'm sorry. Do you know English?" the Wizard asked.

"Or perhaps French?" He switched, clumsily uttering the first spoken words since spending a summer visiting the Delacour manor.

The man and girl looked at each other in confusion. He then spoke into what was probably a radio, finally raising a single finger. This he understood. Something along the lines of; 'hang on a second'. Harry nodded and stuffed his hands into his pockets, but continued to look around at anything and everything. The other door opened and a dull bronze humanoid robot entered.

Much like when he woke up, the young man simply gawked at the droid, in this case C3PO.

"Could you translate the language this human speaks?" Leia made a gesture towards Harry with her hand, encouraging him to converse with C3PO.

'Talk to the robot'

The choppy series of vowels the man used to address the droid was unlike any human language she'd ever heard before. A few times a single phrase sounded similar to something she'd previously heard, but that happened often with so many languages spoken in the galaxy. It was like nothing Leia had ever heard before. C3PO cocked his head as the human spoke.

It then turned to face the Commander and General.

"I'm afraid I've never encountered this language before Princess" it said with some excitement. "Without a reference I cannot help you. The only way for me to learn his native tongue will be if he teaches it to me. I am sorry."

Rieekan nodded. "Could he have been dumped here by someone?" The general asked the Princess in a low tone. "Pirates perhaps?"

She shook her head. "No sir, we carbon dated the ice around him. He's been there for quite some time."

The older man scratched the stubble on his chin. "How can that be?"

Leia shook her head. "Sir, I wish I knew."

Harry watched the two speak in low tones, pretty sure whatever language barrier that existed between them right now would remain for the foreseeable future. The robot shifted from side to side, making a clicking sort of noise. He wondered how humans had gotten so advanced when the short girl tried to get his attention with a wave.

She pointed at herself. "Leia". Right, names. Harry nodded replied in kind.

"Harry Potter" he then took her hand and kissed the back, another little habit he'd picked up in France. The girls, at least back in Britain seemed to like it. From the faint blush he observed it seemed here (wherever here was) was no different. Not that he was trying to woo the girl.

It simply broke the ice.

The Rebel Commander introduced himself as well, though consciously kept his hands behind his back. Harry grinned, but demonstrated a handshake. The man sighed in relief and the girl looked amused.

Before Harry could so much as attempt to ask to see the outside the radio squawked to life and the two non-English speakers became very excited. Harry, who up until this point thought he was in some sort of Hospital frowned when the door opened.

The corridors were made of ice. Was Earth still a frozen wasteland? A weight settled in his gut as they navigated the corridors. How had he gotten here? Harry gestured around and tapped his chest, trying to ask what they called this place.

The man seemed to understand his quarry and simply said "Echo Base." He tested the words, repeating them a few times in his head until he felt comfortable with them.

Harry's breath hitched as they walked into the main chamber. It was an ant hive of activity. Robots, equipment and men swarmed around what looked like fighter planes. There was a larger and somewhat beat up disk shaped ship as well. In fact most of the vehicles being maintained looked rather rough around the edges.

Black scorch marks. Chipped paint. Many weren't even the same. It looked like some ragtag force that had some serious funding issues. But despite the poor condition they were still much more advanced than anything he'd ever seen. Dare he say they looked space worthy?

But as interesting as the sleek white hulls were to look at he couldn't help but seek out and approach the large metal bay doors. He discreetly made his way towards them, careful not to get in anyone's way.

"Shit!" the Wizard swore when he reached the cave entrance. The blinding white landscape stretching out past the horizon confirmed it. Earth was still covered. He cast a wandless warming charm and stepped outside. As an afterthought he also cast a muggle notice me not charm.

His escort it seemed was busy greeting two other men that had just arrived. One seemed injured. Harry wasn't sure what to make of these people. They seemed friendly enough, but without being able to talk they could be cannibals for all he knew. Harry almost immediately deduced that these folks were involved in a conflict of sorts.

Their gear was well used and showed battle damage. If they found out what he was and what he could do they'd most likely try to recruit him. Without even knowing how to communicate he was hesitant to offer assistance, limited though it would be. Besides, he needed to find Phoenix base.

Harry drew in a deep breath. The air was bitterly cold and made him want to cough. What had happened? He'd been trying to recall the last moments before his bout of unconsciousness since waking up. Did Phoenix base even still exist? It seemed so surreal. Yesterday he'd been alone, craving human interaction. Now there were hundreds of people milling about, and all he could think about was going back to his life of solitude.

The icy wind whipped his loose coat around. He needed to see if anything was left. But not quite yet. Better confirm if his absence will be noticed. He knew nothing of their weapons, and he didn't fancy being followed or detained.

The injured man was taken to the infirmary and placed in the same tank he'd woken up in. What was inside was anyone's guess. Some healing fluid perhaps? Some potions required a limb to soak instead of being ingested like most. He found the Leia girl arguing with another man when he entered.

The creature next to him though was what Harry really stared at. The Wokkie made a noise and the man spoke to it. To him it simply sounded like a gurgle. Harry lifted the notice me not charm and they realized that someone else was in the room. Both looked mildly confused, but that was normal when the charm was lifted in close proximity to the people it effects.

"Han Solo." The man shook his hand after Harry introduced himself. He then reapplied the charm once more and was quickly ignored again. So far so good. The charms seemed to work on these people, meaning they were muggles. Solo's gear laid scattered around the room, amongst it a recognizable pair of binoculars.

Harry grabbed the optics and with a quick check that he wasn't being watched Apparated to the entrance. While the two humans were in fact too occupied with their spat to notice, the Furry creature did. Harry had assumed it was some sort of pet, and didn't give it much thought. Being sentient though and clearly not muggle made Chewbacca immune to the magic. The creature roared and shook his friend hard enough to rip his attention from the Princess.

"Chewie, would you butt out for a few minutes?" Han complained. The Wookie though wouldn't let this go. Finally Han relented and spun around. "What do you mean the new guy vanished into thin air? People don't just vanish. Have you been dipping into the Banthazolate again **?** "

Chewbacca seemed to take offense to that and smacked his hairless monkey partner over the back of the head, which caused Leia to grin in approval for a split second.

"Ok, ok. Geez, why are you so sensitive lately?" The trio looked around the waiting room and found it empty. "He probably just left."

Leia shook her head. "He couldn't have without an access card. The doors won't open without them." Han pulled his out, as did Chewbacca. Leia had hers to. "Then how did he…?"

The radio buzzed to life once again, this time with the voice of the main entrance sentry. The Sargent was currently looking at a screen showing a bright red blob against an ultramarine background. He zoomed in manually and switched to TV mode, then physically turned away from the screen to the area where the sensor was pointing to, but couldn't discern a thing visually.

In fact he felt compelled to look away every time he tried. Had the good Sargent not been one of the guys ice picking the guy from a block last night he'd have assumed the thing was malfunctioning. But the face on the IR scanner was unmistakable. He lifted the radio to his cloth covered face.

"Commander, your friend just walked out the front door."

The trio in the infirmary crowded around the small handheld and the voice crackled back to life after a few moments.

"I don't know what he's doing, but the guy's wearing nothing more than a long sleeve and some BDU's. He won't last ten minutes out there like that."

Leia cursed and they filed out of the small medical bay. Luke would be in the tank for a few more hours, Jedi or not. That head injury looked pretty nasty.

"How'd he get outside so fast?" Han complained as they navigated the icy maze of corridors. "We didn't let him out of our sight for that long. By the way, who is that guy? I haven't seen him around before."

"It's a long story" the Princess growled, not pleased that their mysterious guest was wandering around outside the base. In all honesty she'd completely forgotten about him. That was very odd for her, behavior wise anyway. Something like that didn't just slip past her. She kicked herself for letting him out of her sight. Damn that Solo.

They geared up and took a pair of Tontons past the perimeter emplacements. Chewie stayed put, continuing the repairs to Smugglers currently broken Freighter. A single ice speeder also launched to try and locate the man who'd seemingly wandered out of the Rebel Alliance's most secret base unhindered.

It took a few minutes, but they found him. The speeder's thermal sensors picked up a huge spike on a nearby mountain peak and long range video identification confirmed it. Visual confirmation from the pilot however came back negative yet again, which frustrated said pilot to no end.

That wasn't the only weird thing though. That peak was about four miles to the northwest. An impossible distance for him to have walked in the few minutes he'd been missing. How was this guy moving around so quickly? Han and Leia set out heading north.

oOo

Harry recognized the landscape. He was still near the base in Iceland. The tallest peak, the one that held the solar array looked off somehow, but the two lesser peaks were spot on. He'd gazed at them enough times over the decades. With a line of sight apparition he jumped to the top, sinking up to his waist the second he arrived. There was no dome here. Heck, the sizable plateau where it had been located was quite simply gone. His stomach clenched painfully. He'd been up here. Did something happen to the mountain?

He drew the elder wand and performed a simple point me charm towards the entrance to the tunnel. The deep snow made it hard to move. He conjured a pair of snowshoes, but putting them on and getting back up was a fight in itself. For several minutes he shuffled along, seemingly leaving a random trail in his wake.

When the wand spun in circles Harry started vanishing first snow, then ice and finally stone. There it was. A blast of warm humid air tussled his messy hair as the tunnel roof slumped inward. With a small jump he entered the freshly exposed tunnel.

oOo

The two Alliance Rebels arrived to find the target co-ordinates deserted. There was no one here. After dismounting their Tontons they spread out. The peek looked unremarkable with the exception of a freshly dug hole on the eastern slope. Upon closer inspection they reclassified it a tunnel. It was too uniform and angular to be a cave or ancient hollow lava tube, which this region is also was known for. About a week ago a rebel scouting party broke through one and fell thirty feet. Thankfully there were no fatalities, but for now the patrols stuck to the ice. Han drew his blaster and they entered.

oOo

The tunnel was in rough shape. Multiple collapses every few hundred feet, some of them quite large. The metal conduit was still there but it looked…different. He couldn't figure out what could cause the metal to tarnish like it had. The walk was long and progress slow, but he didn't dare apparate straight to the base itself. The bilge pumps had most likely failed without the solar array powering them and he'd have killed himself. It was well known that the base was less than perfect when it came to keeping the groundwater out.

The ladder he'd ascended what seemed like a few hours ago was visible up ahead. But again its condition made him pause. There was not a single spot not covered by rust. In fact, the once solid steel rungs looked like twigs. He gently nudged one with his foot only to have the damn thing disintegrate the second he disturbed it.

"Merlin, how long did it take for oxidation to cause this kind of damage?" he muttered. The ventilation shaft was over a kilometer deep before ending over the sealed access hatch. He clearly remembered leaving it open. Instead of conjuring a brand new ladder he tweaked the thick casing of the power conduit, sprouting staggered titanium foot spikes every twelve inches or so.

Harry found a rhythm quickly, focusing on the metallic clunk, clunk, clunk of the rubber soles hitting the metal as he descended. His ears popped from the change in altitude as the minutes passed. It was pitch black, and as a result he was so sensory deprived that the eventual splash of his foot hitting water almost made him fall. At least it was luke warm.

"Lumos" The whispered incantation echoed through the cramped barren space of the shaft. The water was pitch black and had soaked his leg up to the knee. His fears had been confirmed. The base had flooded. Up ahead he heard muffled voices and a weak shimmer of light. The faint beam briefly found him before receding.

So they'd followed him. No matter. Harry began vanishing the stale putrid water. Even with a bubblehead charm he likely had several hundred meters to go. The pressure of that much water above him would crush him. It also confirmed his earlier assumption that apparation would in all likelihood have proven to be fatal.

When he finally reached the hatch the Wizard allowed himself to rest for a few minutes, sitting down on one of the titanium rugs. He could hear the faint tapping and vibrations on the makeshift ladder. They'd be here soon. How had they known he was here?

With a grunt of effort he pushed himself back up and pointed the Wand towards the murky black soup. It receded a few feet, but with the base proper below massive amounts of water rushed from the top level to fill the void. He kept at it, waiving it in slow, circular motions.

The water swirled, drawn to the location he was vanishing it from. By the time the floor of the base became visible some time had passed. The continuous application of the charm also left him exhausted.

The Elder wand was warm to the touch. He needed to pace himself. There were no pepper up potions for him to use, and it wouldn't do if he passed out down here. With a rather audible squishing sound his new standard issue rebel boots hit the algae covered concrete. This was bad. As in really, really bad. The decay he'd observed on the way down was hard to fathom. And now this growth? Just how long had he been unconscious?

Leia and Han caught up with the Wizard just as he reached the entrance to the cryostorage section. Or what was left of it. Slimy opening in the crumbling concrete was more accurate. The thick steel door had rusted away completely, leaving behind a burgundy line that the algae couldn't or wouldn't grow on. The constant act of vanishing that much water had made him dizzy.

" _Harry, what are you doing?"_ Leia's previously pristine white uniform was smudged in several places from the climb down. _"And what is this place?"_

He ignored her jibberish, still panting hard and leaning against the dirty granite. It didn't really matter what the language was in this case. He knew what they were asking. But again, there was no way for him to answer.

Even if he could, there might not have been a way for him to at this very moment. Harry looked at the hole that led into the massive holding chamber. No one had come to save the residents of Phoenix base. They'd died down here. Because of him.

He forged on and the two rebel commanders followed. "What is going on?" Han hissed, blaster still drawn and loosely pointed down the corridor Harry had just vanished through. "Did you know this was here?"

"Of course not" she spat back, looking rather shocked at the realization that there was an ancient underground bunker so close to Echo Base. "Look, a maintenance tech found him in the ice early this morning. We thawed him, and now he led us down here. I think this might have been where he lived before getting trapped in the ice."

What makes you think that?" Han asked.

"Think about it Solo. How else would he have found this place?"

The Smuggler looked around. He'd seen a lot of things over the years traveling the Galaxy, but this was a first.

"Honestly, I leave for one night and look at what happens." Leia rolled her eyes as they crept further down algae coated corridor, looking out for their 'friend'.

"You saw the thing he held right?"

She sighed. Han seriously couldn't keep his trap shut today. It was infuriating.

"Of course I saw it." Leia didn't know what to make of it. It was a stick, and the tip seemed to glow a ire blue. Maybe he used the force in some way. The way he'd made them forget about him back in the base made her suspicious.

She'd heard stories from Obi Wan before he perished. The Force could do amazing things, including sway the minds of those less in tune with it. Maybe he was some sort of ancient Jedi?

They finally found him standing in front of a group of very fuzzy bulbous shapes. The thick grime had been removed from the glass of one. Leia understood then what they were looking at. There were people in those things.

Her hand rose to cover her mouth. The ice around Harry had been thousands of years old. The surfaces of this place were covered in growth and dripping wet. The place had obviously been sitting under water for a very long time. How were these pods even still intact?

More importantly, how had the one individual not in one survived this long while the rest of his people perished in specially designed chambers built for long term hibernation? She took a step forward, then another, until she finally stood next to the seemingly broken man.

"Harry?" He didn't move. She saw the face of a woman. Silver hair, sunken cheeks. The skin was yellow and leathery. A mummy. Despite knowing next to nothing about this man, Leia felt then need to help him. Comfort him even. So she did. Her hand found his, and for the first time since it happened she told the story of how their arch Nemesis destroyed her Planet. They were two peas in a pod.

Solo watched her as she found his hand, and listened as she told the story of what happened to Alderaan. Han wanted to be jealous, but damn it he couldn't. Leia didn't do this to spite him, or because she felt any attraction towards this guy. He was in pain. And while personally Han hated showing such a weakness, he honestly couldn't say with a straight face that he'd be able to handle it any differently.

At first Harry didn't even register that anyone else was here. He couldn't rip his eyes from the emancipated form of his wife. Her name had been Evelyn, and he'd met her down here in the early days of Phoenix Bases commissioning. Oddly enough she'd been a muggle, but that fact mattered not to him, nor her. She was special, and funny, and they'd just clicked.

She was the only person he'd ever loved after his first wife passed some thirty years earlier. He was a century and a half her senior, yet made him act like a teenaged fool around her.

In his mindscape the green slick walls reverted back to their dull gray state. The pod in front of him regained its luster, the metal gleaning like the day it had arrived from the factory. She stood there, silvery hair framing a slender face marred with laugh wrinkles. As beautiful as the day they'd met, some 40 years earlier.

"I'll be right here when you wake" he stated firmly while rubbing soft circles on the top of her hand. She nodded and smiled before settling in the padded interior.

"I love you" he added, much like he often did before they parted for the day, or right before falling asleep. She returned his show of affection and repeated the words he'd spoken.

She'd shown him how to love again. And how had he repaid her? By dooming her. Her and all the others. So many others. Some savior he was.

Harry was openly crying now, tears silently rolling down his stubble covered face. Not just for her, but for what had become of their plan to save their and so many other species. There was just enough power in him right now to do this last thing. He certainly had the self-loathing , and oh so much hatred. It would be easy. The elder wand slowly rose. The words were on his lips. Surely the most powerful of the Hallows could end their unity and rip him from the mortal coil. He closed his eyes.

" _Avada Keda-"_ before he could utter the last syllable Leia's hand squeezed his. The pressure instantly snapped him out of it. The killing curse might only kill him, but any person touching him would suffer greatly. He exhaled shakily and slowly turned his head to look at her.

Leia. The girl, no woman who'd found him. She was talking. He didn't understand of course, but her voice was soothing. It sounded sad. Damn, why had she stopped him?

'Well Shite Potter, she probably didn't know you were a split second from offing yourself.' Harry's brow scrunched in confusion and a bit of disgust. Why the hell did his subconscious sound like Draco Bloody Malfoy?

"Maybe because I'm here!" The transparent smoky figure appeared from the wall, swirling beside them. Leia shrieked, and Solo did the thing he was famous for and shot first. The red bold disappeared into his old nemesis's non corporal form with no resistance and impacted the far wall.

"Nice guests you brought along." Malfoy said with distain, scratching the spot where the shot had passed through him.

"So, someone finally thawed your useless arse from the ice? Come to wallow in your own misery then? Leave it to Potter they said. He'll keep us safe they said." The Wizard could only gape in shock. Great, he was being haunted by Malfoy's ghost. No, spirit. Malfoy certainly didn't have any regrets by the time he bought the farm. Just wonderful.

"Don't listen to him." Harry's heart felt like it could burst when the wispy form of his friend appeared. She was giving Draco the stink eye. "Hermione?" Her stern look softened. "Harry" she said softly. "Don't blame yourself for this. There's nothing you could have done. It was a freak accident."

"They're all dead because of me! Of course it's my fault." Draco nodded vigorously. More shades appeared. "No Harry. The whole mountain peak collapsed. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. None of us blame you." Ginny also shot Malfoy a dirty look. "Not even Draco."

Harry ran both hands through his hair, completely overwhelmed. "Are you all Ghosts?" He wasn't sure if this was real, but damn it was good to talk to his friends again. The spectres shook their heads. "Just spirits. We don't haunt this place, nor are we tied to it. There are many more who'd like to see you to, but for now we're it."

"Didn't want to overwhelm you Harry." Neville chipped in.

"Oh." Well they'd failed horribly.

"Don't sweat it" Ron piped in. Even if you don't kick the bucket for a few millennia or more it's no big deal. I mean, it's been what? 30,000 years now? What's a few more right?"

"Fifteen Ron. Merlin, you never where good with numbers." Hermione shook her head. The other just nodded sagely. Harry grasped the gauntlet of his arm. This must be the work of the resurrection stone. Dear god, he'd been frozen for fifteen millennia? His mind was going a mile a minute.

"Err, how did you contact me? He asked, so very glad he could at least talk to them. "I thought only the stone's master could call the dead?"

Of all the questions to ask. "Oh there are rules. But everyone else is gone. All of the souls on this planet have moved on except for us. The Nuts are running the Asylum now. That means we can do what we want. To a degree." This of course came from Luna.

"Should I be worried?" it was a rhetorical question.

"Very."

Harry looked at the motley crew of spirits and shook his head, a faint smile now gracing his lips. "You're going to dog my every move from now on aren't you?"

"Consider it your punishment for royally screwing up." Harry still couldn't believe his dead friends had befriended Malfoy of all people in the afterlife.

"Right. Well the cat's out of the bag now. So much for keeping a low profile." He chuckled, glancing over his shoulder to see a very shocked Princess and Smuggler.

"Please Potter, we both know your huge ego wouldn't let you stay on the sidelines."

"Can I exorcise him?" the Wizard asked.

At least Ron shouted his approval. He ignored Malfoy's swearing. "So I can call you whenever, and you can do the same?"

They nodded, and most smiled warmly. "I'm going to cock block you for the rest of eternity Potter!" Malfoy shouted before dissipating. Ginny stepped forward. Even with no body she still stood (or hovered) a good foot shorter than him. "It's good to have you back Harry."

She looked sad. After the battle they'd never really reconnected, and from the looks of it she regretted it. To be honest Harry did as well. "Now go deal with your new friends. They seem a bit put out."

Harry turned to do just that but there was one more he needed to speak with first.

"Hi Harry" the Transparent shade of Evelyn Potter greeted him. The faint smile he'd acquired instantly faded. Merlin how he wanted to hug her.

"Evelyn" he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

She shook her head. "I don't blame you. And you shouldn't either."

Her hand grazed his bearded cheek and he closed his eyes, imagining her touch.

"You have another chance at life Harry. Grab on to it."

When he reopened them she was gone, as were the others.

"I love you" he whispered.

Snapping out of his trance Harry focused his attention on the two Alliance Rebels.

Han looked like he'd seen a ghost. Or a half dozen. Leia, who'd been rolling with it until this point was with Solo on this. He was talking to mist. The one spectre looked an awful lot like the woman she just saw in the pod, although much younger looking.

These were the spirits of the people in the pods. Harry chuckled at something one of the departed had said and shook his head. It was the first time she'd heard him laugh. He turned to face them, as if seeing them for the first time, His eyes sparkling in mirth. Their conversation seemed over for now.

"Uh, oh." Han knew that look. It usually meant he wouldn't like was about to happen.

Harry wasted no time and grasped both of them by the arms before apparating back to the base entrance.

Han and Leia promptly hit the deck and vomited all over the shoes (or boots) of the Rebel sentry who'd alerted them of Harry's odd behavior. The man, though shocked looked more outraged than anything. After all, it was damn hard to clean your gear when water froze the second you tried!

"Opps" the Wizard quipped. It was as if a switch had been flicked. Gone was the reserved and cautious man they'd seen. The multiple self-cast cheering charms he'd hit himself with might also have had something to do with it. That nearly successful AK had scared the shite out of Harry.

He helped the two up, even going so far as to brush off the snow. "Sorry 'bout that. First time side-along can be a little hard."

The Princess shot him a less than pleased look. As for Solo? Well he was swearing with enough enthusiasm to make the other sentries blush. Leia wiped her mouth, looking and feeling quite ill.

 _"You!"_ She jabbed a finger into his chest. _"With me."_

She continued to fume while leading him and Solo towards the command center. Once there he was pushed into a seat. General Reiikan looked at his former head of state with some confusion. Her hair, previously neatly braided and out of the way looked disheveled and messy, and there was a distinct lack of color on her face.

"Princess? What's going on?" To be honest he'd completely forgotten about their frozen friend. Perhaps it was time to lay of the Caff and get some shuteye.

"Our guest here…" she shot Harry an icy glare, "has some explaining to do."

Rieekan didn't press any further. "Carry on then." He turned to address the perplexing signal the listening stations were picking up and left them to it.

"Talk. What did you just do?" She demanded, slamming both hands on the chair's arms and leaning down to look at Harry, their faces inches apart.

He spoke quickly, a bit of frustration leaking through. She closed her eyes, remembering their little communication problem. This wasn't going to work. With a sigh she pulled away and scanned the room.

"C3PO! I want you and R2 to catalogue his language. Run him through the first contact scenario and report back when you can act as translator." The dull bronze robot moved closer and shook his head. Harry could actually hear the whining of the servo's of the machine as it moved.

"As you wish Princess." The lanky translator droid awkwardly gestured Harry to follow. Once he was gone she exhaled slowly, trying to collect herself. They'd just been teleported back to Echo Base from a nearby subterranean facility and she knew it was his doing.

Leia didn't linger in the command center long. Luke would be awake soon. She ran into the two dunderheads outside the Infirmary.

"I know, I know big guy. You were right. Yes, my head's full of Bantapoo."

She nodded in agreement and the trio walked inside to see their Jedi friend still floating in the Bacta tank.

Han finally broke the silence. Not for the first time Leia wondered how he'd managed to stay alive with a mouth that never seems to stop.

"Are we going to talk about what just happened or just sweep it under the rug like we usually do?" It was a petty jab at her continued refusal to acknowledge something that in her mind at least didn't exist.

"I've instructed 3CPO to learn Harry's language. Until then we could speculate, and I for one have better things to do than play a few rounds of what if." She didn't mean to sound so harsh, but whatever Harry had done left her shaken. In reality her mind was racing. This ability, while not fully understood could prove to be a huge advantage for the Alliance.

Han frowned but didn't further antagonize her Highness. Right now he just wanted to get off this frozen rock and settle things with Jabba. Unfortunately that couldn't happen until he and Chewie were cleared to leave.

The medical droid deemed their friend well enough to discharge a short while later and the four lounged in the adjacent waiting room. Leia kissed Luke to get back at Han's asshatery. She was pleased to see it worked, though the kiss wasn't nearly as pleasant as she thought it would be. In simple terms, it felt wrong.

If only she knew.

* * *

 **So here it is, chapter two. It was hard to end this chapter, it just wanted to keep going and would have right up to the 12 or 13k mark if left unchecked. This was rewritten numerous times until I decided to go with the language barrier version. It makes dialogue harder, but having the characters able to converse with no problems just felt wrong to me. First contact scenarios fascinate me, but writing one myself was difficult. The spirits thing…I was on the fence about this too, but considering the dead can talk in the Star wars verse as well it seemed plausible.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Another Whopper of a chapter. Thank you everyone for your positive feedback on the last one. Also, you'll be happy to hear I did a find and replace search of the word THRU, which you seem to think is as bad as mixing up there, their and they're. Ok I'm done and won't bore you any longer with my rambling. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Princess, we have a visitor." Rieekan nodded towards a workstation showing a large scale digital map as his second in command and two deputy commanders entered. A large red blip pulsed in sector 12. "It seems to be made of metal."

"One of our speeders?" Solo asked. The General shook his head. Before he could elaborate the on-duty com tech spoke up. "Sir, were picking something. Calibrating com channel now." A garbled set of random tones and screeches crackled from the speakers. The translation droid that took over for C3PO stated it was likely to be an imperial code, considering it wasn't amongst the 6 million different languages in its database.

Chewie gurgled softly and Han nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we'll check it out."

On the other side of the facility the walking talking tin can led Harry to what looked to be a conference room. Once there the smaller blue domed robot began displaying images of things; objects mostly with its Holo projector. They switched every three seconds. Harry looked at the golden droid, then back at digital slideshow.

"You want me to help you create a dictionary of English words?" the blue droid chirped and whistled, shaking back and forth a few times.

With a sigh he began rattling of definitions of items he recognized. Many he'd never seen before, like the large wooly creature the size of a London city bus. But most were intentionally simplistic to get as many positive answers as possible. Occasionally messages filtered through the bases intercom system he couldn't understand. Their small blue friend departed a short while later, leaving him alone with the droid called C3PO.

It was attempting to establish a baseline from which to work from, emulating verbs and action to supplement the nouns he'd been asked to provide. This went on for quite some time, at least until bits of the ceiling began trickling down. A slight tremor shook the ice, followed by another. Harry looked around with mild concern. He wasn't too keen on being buried by the stuff again anytime soon.

The door of course wouldn't budge. Not a problem. A simple unlocking charm and it was ripped open. The corridors looked in worse shape than the room he'd been in. The walls had large fissures running from top to bottom. Narrow wooden planks were in some areas now covered by several inches of fine powdered ice. Harry, who had a rough idea of the base's layout, moved in the direction of the main Hangar bay, leaving a clearly protesting droid in his wake.

oOo

Things had gone to hell in a handbasket very quickly indeed, the Princess thought with a grim expression as another layer of powder trickled down from the roof. The probe they'd destroyed had alerted the Empire, forcing them to pack up shop. Or at least as much of it as they could.

Already several elements of the legendary Blizzard Force were on the ground, supported by giant lumbering AT-AT's their ground defenses couldn't hope to overpower. The base would fall. The only thing they could do was protect the shield for as long as possible and send the transports in pairs. They still needed to evacuate hundreds of base personal and the Rebel infantry units fighting a delaying action outside.

Another massive tremor shook the ice, followed by scattered reports that the Generators had been destroyed. Leia ordered the remaining members of the Sixty-First mobile infantry to make their way to the last planet side transport. Next she furiously input the final commands into the base's failing mainframe.

The Ion canon was set fire in approximately seven minutes at the nearest Imperial Star Destroyers the transport would have to fly past. She cursed her luck. They'd spent a lot of resources and man-hours setting up this base over the last few months, only to have to evacuate it with most of their equipment still here. This would set the Alliance back months if not years!

"You all right?" The concerned voice of Han Solo echoed through the dilapidated command post. Solo stumbled over some debris, momentarily caught flat footed as another powerful impact shook the ice.

"What are you still doing here?" she hollered past several downed support beams. "You were given clearance to leave!"

"The command center got hit. I-"

"Don't need your help." She finished for him. Honestly, one moment he was telling her good riddance and the next the protective concerned side he rarely showed came out. It's like they only got along during a crisis. Han might not have realized this, but it wasn't exactly a good foundation for a relationship to be built on.

Before their latest spat could escalate C3PO came shuffling in. "Master Solo, Princess! Mr. Potter has wandered off again."

Both organics swore. Solo because they really didn't have time for this, Leia because once again she'd forgotten about their mysterious guest. She'd been so wrapped up in the evacuation order he simply slipped her mind. Again.

"Where did he go?" The firing sequence was input. They needed to leave. C3PO shook his head in frustration. "I believe Master Harry was headed towards the main hangar bay. Perhap-"

"Good" Solo cut him off. "I'll collect him up before Chewie and I leave with the Falcon. The fuzz ball probably already picked him up. Right now we need to get you to the last transport." She wanted to protest but he was right.

"WARNING! IMPERIAL TROOPS HAVE ENTERED THE BASE!" the intercom blared the message, while the sounds of weapons fire could be heard in the background.

That was their cue to leave. Han and Leia sprinted from the control room, their droid not far behind. The base was essentially deserted, and the Imperials would swarm through it unhindered very quickly. Han briefly wondered if he'd make it back to the Falcon in time. As if on cue, a powerful shockwave caused the corridor up ahead to cave in.

"Well, so much for leaving on the transport." Leia ordered the last remaining evac. bird to leave. She'd once again be forced to escape on that rusty bucket of bolts Han called a ship.

They almost made it too. A nearby blast demolished the heavy metal door, showering them with debris and knocked both rebels flat on their cans. Han managed to fire through the smoke and water vapor before his blaster was ripped from his hands.

He knew of only one thing that could disarm him like that. They ran for all they were worth. Blaster fire licked their heels before they cleared the next corner. Up ahead was the Ship. Chewie roared into the radio as the Falcon's point defense weapons began to engage the Snow Troopers behind them.

Vader though had other ideas and created a new hole into the bay, curtesy of his light saber. With a squeezing gesture from his gloved hand the Millennium Falcon's turret sparked and died. Han looked upset, not even wanting to know how much it would cost to repair that thing. Oh and also because they were cut off from escape by a man that could kill them with the flick of his wrist.

oOo

Harry meanwhile had made it to the same Hanger a few minutes prior and was promptly pulled into the sole remaining ship by the Wookie creature. He had no idea what was going on. The furry alien then made a beeline for the cockpit, presumably to fire up the engines. Harry hovered near the still open Hatch, wondering if it would close automatically when they took off. He didn't fancy being sucked out into space.

On the far end of the large cavern a door hissed open and two figures came barreling towards them, followed by helmeted white soldiers. The ship's automated point defense weapons lowered from the hull and the loud screeching of laser blaster fire assaulted his ears. The bolts though were not aimed at the first two.

He recognized them the closer they came. Han and Leia. Why was he not surprised? Before either made it aboard a side passage near the Falcon blew in and a truly ridiculous caped figure stepped forth, blocking the path of his…friends? Yeah he could figure that out later. The laser fire ceased. His entire outfit was black, complete with polished black helmet, mask, and some weird computer board strapped to his chest. It looked ridiculous.

The man (Harry assumed) seemed too focused on the two fleeing rebels to notice him. Never one for honorable duels and all that rubbish Harry did what any logically thinking individual would do. Fire a stunner into his opponents unprotected back. Only things didn't quite pan out the way he'd thought.

The spell flew straight and true, until it hit a long red beam of light. Upon closer inspection it originated from a metal pole, firmly held by a black gloved hand. The devise hummed with energy.

What? He was confused. How could he have known? The masked man turned his head to gaze upon the new player who dared fire upon his turned back. With a single hand he pushed.

Harry, who'd been standing on the loading ramp flew back into the ship as if he'd been hit was a banisher from Merlin himself. The Wizard would have dented the bulkhead were it not for some quick thinking on his part. With a pop the young man appeared next to ship, inertia still preserved, causing him to slide across most of the Hangar floor.

"What the bloody hell?" He muttered, wobbling slightly before finally regaining his footing next to the Princess and Smuggler. They looked at him with wide eyes. Vader cocked his head in interest. Undeterred from his earlier failure Harry unleashed a series of quick spells that a normal human would be hard pressed to avoid, and followed it up with some advanced animal conjuring.

Vader though sidestepped most and the few he couldn't were absorbed by that weird light blade of his. The animals fared even worse, butchered with inhuman grace and speed. For a moment Harry just stood there and gaped at the raw skill and power. Seeing an opening Darth Vader launched himself forward with the help of the force, light saber high above his head and ready to strike.

Harry managed to clear the blade by a few inches, though the heat from the device blistered his skin. His instincts screamed at him to get away from this guy. Yet again Harry apparated, this time reappearing on top of the Falcon's superstructure. He inspected his burnt arm and made a mental note not to let that thing touch him.

Luckily the rebels had left a lot of stuff lying around for him to keep that from happening. With the flick of his wand a multi ton piece of machinery of unknown purpose leapt off the ground and towards the masked super human, who'd quickly re-acquired him after failing to cut his head off.

Vader raised his free hand and diverted the bulky piece of metal and plastic ever so slightly that it missed him. It smashed into the ice, exploding in a ball of bluish flames. The supply hoses and power conduits that dangled like vines from the ceiling came alive and shot out. Again his opponent made short work of them, despite the random trajectories and multiple simultaneous attacks.

The Wizard muttered in disbelief at how his enemy moved to avoid the myriad of weapons banished at him. Even Voldemort couldn't move like this. It was almost as if he knew what Harry was planning before it even crossed his mind. But Potter was nothing if not resourceful. His spells might be ineffective and the regular Auror and dueling tactics all but useless, but there was one thing he'd yet to try.

He summoned a fallen piece of the bases support structure and transfigured it into a functional replica of a muggle military assault rifle. Back when he'd been tasked with being the Prime Minister's Wizard, the SAS had provided him with extensive weapons training and tactics.

The muggles had fine-tuned the art of war down to a science, with variables and statistical probabilities that could be plugged into a computer and made to spit out a number, often measuring success in percentages or odds. Harry knew enough about the workings of some firearms that he could easily transfigure one. Using his foot the antiquated weapon launched off the ground and into his waiting hands.

Harry shouldered the Automatic rifle and fired, the sharp bark a stark contrast to the high pitched whine of the laser blasters they'd heard moments ago. Vader leapt behind a fallen supply crate just as Harry opened up.

Frustrated but undeterred the Wizard emptied the 30 round magazine into the flimsy looking cover, not bothering with short controlled bursts. Unfortunately one could not transfigure objects with runes etched into them. It would have made the impromptu weapon much more effective.

The metal box though shrugged off the full metal jacketed projectiles with ease, proving that metallurgy had advanced far enough that a simple shipping crate could stop multiple 7.62x51 rounds without much damage.

There was no time to reflect on what had, or in this case hadn't happened. The crate shot towards him like a cannonball, forcing Harry to hit the deck or be hit. Vader was right behind the makeshift missile, eager to end this here and now. Harry, in desperation unleashed a broad spectrum banisher of his own that blew the Dark Lord into one of the few still standing support columns. The whole structure groaned as the Sith shattered the thick ice with his body.

The Wizard looked around for his charges. They were hunkered down behind a debris pile, unwilling to risk the run towards the access hatch of the Falcon. A wise move, considering the hangar bay looked like a warzone. Technically correct, but this particular battle had pushed the envelope a bit with what they thought was possible.

Bits of animals and shattered equipment littered the hangar bay. Even the White Armored Soldiers had enough common sense to stay back. Harry fired a few Reductors into the far walls to keep the Snow troopers at bay.

The two unarmed muggles were ushered up the ramp. Harry followed up the rear, and was just about inside when the hairs on his back tingled unpleasantly. He managed to snap of a Protecto just as the searing bolt of lightning leapt from Vader's outstretched hand. It seems his masked opponent wasn't above firing at people's backs either.

Good, no quarter taken, and none given. Harry conjured a fire whip and launched it at Vader, trying to keep him away from the ship for just a few seconds longer. The hum of the engines told him it was time to go.

" _Lumos maxima!"_ The cave lit up brightly just as he tucked inside the hatch. Harry barely had time to hold on before the ship rocketed towards the exit. A hand grabbed his shirt and pulled him in, potentially saving him from tumbling off the ship like a complete moron. That would have been embarrassing. A jolt at that exact moment caused his savior to overextend and he was pulled down.

"Umpff." Was all she could say before Potter fell on top of the Princess, essentially knocking the wind out of her. He looked surprised for a split second before adopting a goofy grin. Up close and without the constant scowl she actually looked pretty cute. Right now though her expression seemed more startled than anything.

"Thanks." He whispered before removing himself from on top of her. She blushed at their close contact and the single foreign word he uttered, though the Princess figured it was a thank you. Harry held out a hand, which she reluctantly accepted.

" _Right, were not out of the woods yet."_ She muttered, brushing off her clothes. Harry cocked his head at the comment. Not for the first time he wished there was a quick translation charm. Too bad even magic hadn't been able to work around the limitations of human speech.

She moved away and Harry bumped into the Golden droid that had managed to simply walk aboard during their brief but memorable scuffle with Mr. Doom and Gloom. Seems nobody bothered wasting any energy trying to gun down a robot who wasn't armed. He filed that little tidbit of information away for later. After all, glamours could do wonders.

He passed a window and froze. Sweet Merlin, they really were in space. Harry pressed his face against the glass and watched the icy white surface of Earth shrink rapidly. With a sad sigh he whispering a quiet goodbye.

Next thing he knew Han, supposed pilot of this ship blazed past and vanished into an open access panel in the floor. He yelled from inside the maintenance space. His co-pilot handed him some shiny rod but left the toolbox sitting on the edge of the grating, which promptly fell into the hole following another jolt.

Harry guffawed at the man's misfortune. The impacts were steadily increasing and he could see two truly massive vessels approaching, their light gray hulls standing out against the inky backdrop of outer space. The Falcon banked hard and they vanished from sight.

Harry eventually found his way to the bridge where everyone was having a heated discussion about the merits of flying into an asteroid field. For once he didn't need a translator to see that's what the subject matter was about. It was pretty clear from where he stood. Harry had the foresight to grip one of the many bars this ship was equipped with before it veered out of the path of a spinning rock the size of the Hogwarts steam engine but easily three times as wide.

This Solo guy certainly knew what he was doing. Harry couldn't have avoided those things better on his Fire bolt. The thought of his old broom, long since disintegrated in his equally ruined trunk put a damper on his mood. He'd loved that broom. The ship continued whizzing through the unpredictable minefield of kinetic missiles, blasting the few its pilot chose not to avoid. The pinging of hundreds of miniature impacts on metal resonated through the hull as the ship passed through the remnants of one such object.

Han eased the ship towards a very large asteroid and began skimming along the bottom of a jagged canyon. Their pursuers met fiery ends, allowing the falcon to do a victory loop and fly into a sizable hole that snaked through the interior of the large space rock like a giant worm riddled apple. The worm part wasn't so far off, as they'd find out later.

oOo

Darth Vader lowered his hand as the intense light faded. The Millennium Falcon and its occupants had escaped yet again. The force it seemed continued to transpire against him on this latest mission. But the trip here had not been a complete waste. The Rebels, weak as they already were had been denied the opportunity of a staging base against the Empire yet again. Like a Womp rat infestation however they continued to persist.

And now they seemed to have curried the favor of a powerful force user. The man certainly had power. The ripples in the force when they fought no doubt reached his master. His abilities were like nothing he'd ever seen, even when the Jedi Order had hundreds of members. He inspected the disgarded weapon that had put several holes in his favorite cape.

The projectile weapon leapt into his waiting hand. It certainly had heft, he observed while inspecting it. A trooper caught the primitive weapon as Vader continued to gaze out of the cavern, trying to recall every detail of the brief but eventful fight.

Yes, Sidious will no doubt wish to meet with this man. He turned and strode towards one of the outside landing pads. A shuttle was already waiting there for his return to the Executor. They could not be allowed to get away, now more so than ever!

oOo

Solo disengaged from his harness and sighed deeply. The Falcon was beginning to come apart at the seams. He loved the old girl, but this last episode really had been a close one. And from the sounds of it the Imps weren't letting this one go. Unbeknownst to him a half dozen Imperial Star Destroyers were busy vaporizing any rock larger than a few hundred meters, literally leaving no stone unturned. They'd need to leave, sooner rather than later.

That pesky translation droid found him as he walked back to the cockpit. "Sir, would you like me to resume the translation protocol with Master Potter?"

The renegade smuggler began flipping toggle switches in the instrument packed space. "No, I need you to plug into the ship's mainframe and tell me what she needs. I'd rather not spend more than a few hours here if I can help it."

The ship shook violently, and the Droid all of a sudden became an expert on asteroid geology. Han shot it a look he usually reserved for difficult clients and it got the hint, although still kept talking. It was like it needed to make a word count per minute quota or something.

Chewie, although only briefly received the same look and understood his friend's not so subtle hint to make himself scare. The Wookie was all too familiar with his partner's Cassanova complex.

The ship shook again and Leia, despite her best effort not to managed to fall into his waiting arms.

"Let go" she immediately said. Han though pretended to look around, wondering where these darn tremors where coming from. It was so staged she had to resist rolling her eyes.

"Han please. Let go of me!" Like a switch the man went from placid to defensive and flustered. "Fine! Relax already."

She was tired of this. Back when he'd rescued her she briefly gave in to her better judgment and considered dating him. Her world and only home she'd ever known was destroyed, and she just wanted to be comforted. As the weeks turned into months however she got to know Han Solo better, and concluded he was the very sort of man her Mother and Aunts had warned her of. A true player, in every way shape and form.

He regained his composure quickly and left her with a cheesy one liner. Leia was content with just staying put for now, at least until they knew what part of this ship needed fixing the most. She may have been royalty, but was also surprisingly good with a wrench.

Leia hadn't even been alone for a minute when the door slid open again.

"Come to make a fool of yourself again Solo?"

Harry smirked. The tone she favored meant the Woman was somewhat vexed.

" _I'm sorry. Didn't realize anyone was in here. I felt now was a good time to start exploring the ship, what with us finally out of mortal peril and all that tripe."_

She spun around, not expecting it to be their linguistically challenged friend. Harry tried to recall the word for exploring C3PO taught him. It was one of the few he wanted to learn first in order to apologize for the …trauma he'd put her through earlier today.

Harry sat down and gestured to himself, then uttered the action he wished to convey. She smiled faintly and nodded in understanding, trying not to laugh at the horrendous accent he had.

Silence followed, but for once Harry felt the need to talk. A byproduct of being isolated for so long. Dare he say even C3PO had begun to grow on him in the brief time period since his awakening, shocking as though that sounded.

" _I wanted to thank you. You've saved my life twice now."_ He shook his head and added. _"Blimley I wish you could understand me._ " Leia was none the wiser as to what he'd just said, but didn't stop the futile gesture. Harry's voice was soft, and the Princess admitted that she could listen to it all day long.

Predictably their small moment was cut short when the intercom activated and she was summoned. Leia rose and spoke a few words to her guest, effectively excusing herself. Her hand lingered on his shoulder for a few seconds. Harry was content with staying put. The rest of the ship right now was off limits.

He'd been sho'd out of the cot he discovered shortly after landing. To be honest Harry was bone tired. Tired enough that the jet black chair he currently occupied was deemed sufficiently comfortable to rest his eyes for a few moments. Of course some cushioning charms did wonders in that regard. Not a minute later he was out like a light.

She managed to get a few hours of peace before _he_ came back. Leia was currently spot welding a shorn aluminum power relay switch back in place. Whomever had done the work previously ought to be ashamed of themselves. The connection would need to be properly secured in a service station later, but in the meantime this would have to do.

The wire spool on the small portable MIG welder was running low, and the moron didn't have any more. Better conserve what little there was left in case they needed it. Satisfied with her workmanship she cranked the lever back in place. Or tried to anyway. The darn thing was hooking on something. Her frustration at the ship magnified when 'his' arms snaked around her in an effort to assist. She grit her teeth and shoulder checked him in order to back off. Honestly, didn't this guy know when to quit?

"Take it easy your worship. I'm just trying to help."

She redoubled her efforts to lock the switch in place. "Would you please stop calling me that!" Every time someone addressed her as Princess or your highness it was like a knife piercing her heart. A painful and constant reminder that she was royalty for a people that no longer existed.

"All right Leia."

She paused and shook her head. "You can be so difficult sometimes." Why had she said that? All it accomplished was give him delusional ideas she certainly didn't share.

Han nodded, pleased to finally establish some form of dialogue with the shy Princess. "I can be, yes. But you could be nicer though. C'mon admit it, sometimes I can be a nice guy."

There he went again, trying to convince her that beneath that rugged mean exterior beat a real heart of gold. She wanted to snort. Han only really cared about money. That's why he'd rescued her. He was no saint, and never would be. Leia's hand slipped from the lever and impacted the surrounding housing, rewarding her with a sharp pain. She pulled the bruised digit back and suckled on it.

"Occasionally…maybe." Hopefully stroking his ego would be enough for him to ease off. Maybe even try to do the right thing more often. While she might not have high hopes for him a more compassionate Han Solo would greatly help the Alliance build and more importantly maintain the image of a force for good.

"When you're not being a scoundrel." She added, just to make sure he wasn't getting to full of himself. Han though seemed to latch onto this last comment like he'd been waiting for it to be said. He also grabbed her hand, which she didn't like at all.

"Scoundrel." He repeated, testing the word. "Scoundrel?" he nodded, liking the sound of it. Han smiled brilliantly, and Leia bit her cheek to keep from sighing.

"Please stop that. M-My hands are dirty."

Han shrugged. "So are mine." His grip around her tightened as she tried to pull away. "You're trembling. What are you so afraid of?"

"I'm not trembling." He was leaning closer. Oh god why is he leaning. "You like me because I'm a scoundrel." She shook her head. "I-" she cleared her throat. "I happen to like nice men."

Leia's mind ground to a complete halt. Her heart was beating so hard she thought it might burst from her chest. He was so close. "Ah…"

He kissed her. And she was letting him. Oh gods she was kissing him back!

"Sir,sir! C3PO's voice broke them apart. "I've isolated the power flux coupling." The droid said in triumph. While Han's back was turned she slipped away, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. Leia fled back to the bridge, near tears.

She hammered the door control closed and leaned against the cool metal, trying to collect herself. Damn that Solo and his fiendish charm. She felt like a fool for falling for it and letting him get as far as he had. She turned and slumped into the co-pilots chair. Only then did Leia remember that she wasn't alone.

"Harry" she whispered under her breath. He was sleeping, head resting against one of the inactive instrument panels along the hull. He looked so peaceful, even in the uncomfortable position he was in. He wasn't anything like Solo, she thought. Though what did she know? Harry didn't understand anyone.

Surely she would behave the same way were she in his position. She wondered what his personality was like. He didn't seem cocky. Confident, yes. The way he carried himself showed that. And during that brief fight against Vader, Harry seemed very sure of himself. A fighter then.

At this moment, to her at least he seemed like everything Solo wasn't. A ridiculous notion, but because of her near celebrity status as Warrior Princess of the Alliance there existed only a few men who didn't raise her on an unreachable pedestal. Han was one of those, as was Luke. And so was Harry she supposed, as if suddenly viewing him in a different light. She cocked her head to get better look at him. He certainly was attractive. Not as tall as Han, but then again the Smuggler didn't have an athlete's body like his. He'd shaved at some point since recovering in the Bacta tank. She recalled the sight of his exposed torso back in the med bay. Leia licked her lip subconsciously.

No!

If her reasons for refusing to date Solo held water then Harry would be in the same boat. There was nothing more than perhaps a slight physical attraction that he may or may not feel as well. He certainly didn't seem to mind falling on her back when they'd escaped Hoth. Recalling the brief memory made her blush slightly.

With a frustrated sigh she leaned back in the pilot chair. Damn her hormones. They were at war! She had bigger issues than swooning over men.

She shifted in the uncomfortable seat and huffed in annoyance. How was he sleeping in this thing? The stone benches in the royal gardens had been softer than this. She leaned back and kicked her legs up on the dash. Maybe getting a bit of shut eye wasn't such a bad idea, even if her pert behind had to suffer for it.

oOo

The steady but faint vibrations of rocks impacting their hiding place as the Imperial Fleet tore through the asteroid field eventually woke Harry from his uncomfortable sleep. With a half covered yawn he stretched, popping a few joints in the process. He was far from being a hundred percent but for now it would have to do. He noted the sleeping form of Leia and charmed her seat like he had his. She didn't wake, but the content sigh of a softer resting place made him smirk.

Harry made his way to the aft part of the ship, though with its shape it was hard to tell what was what. A circular corridor near the center acted as a junction for accessing the surrounding spaces. Harry waved at Han, who was busy with some piece of equipment currently scattered around the metal grating he was sitting on. The smuggler took note of him but paid him no further attention.

Harry continued on towards the small restroom. With nature taken care of his stomach made itself known. The ship had a small galley if he recalled correctly. Finding it again took a minute or so, mainly because the Furry creature was blocking most of the walkway opposite of Solo.

The Wizard marveled at the complexity of the ship's systems. He doubted he'd ever be as proficient in understanding or maintaining them as these two. Even the relatively complex Phoenix Base was nothing compared to this relatively beaten up vessel. Right now he'd be perfectly happy if they dropped him off at a warm, tropical beach.

Harry was munching on some sort of dry food ration he'd found in a metal cupboard, aimlessly staring out into space when the entirety of the crew minus the droid stampeded by. Curiously he followed. They were heading for the air lock, donning masks and laser weapons. Taking another bite Harry peeked outside the porthole to get a bearing and cast a bubblehead charm on himself. With a crack he was outside, startling the two humans and lone Wokkie.

" _Would you stop doing that?"_ Leia muttered, clutching her chest. Harry shrugged in lieu of apology. The ground here felt very strange. Solo blasted a hideous winged creature from the underside of the ship and muttered a word that must have been its name. Mynark or something.

It was hard to tell with his face covered by the breathing apparatus. The rebel commander ordered Chewie to sweep the exterior of the ship. A flock of the creatures swooped in, hidden by the mist and began swarming the Freighter and anyone not directly underneath it. Chewie fired his laser crossbow, a truly strange weapon to be honest. Harry downed two with stunners and clipped one that was harassing Leia with a cutter.

Then their brilliant Captain fired at the ground, and the ground didn't appreciate his action in the slightest. It was worse than being drunk. Keeping upright was next to impossible, but highly recommended if the ground was as sticky as it felt through his boots. They scrambled back aboard and immediately raced to the bridge. Seemed they were leaving this place, repairs be damned.

Leia and Han held a discussion, of which he managed to pick out 'bad', 'stupid' and 'no'. Essentially what all of their previous conversations sounded like. Up ahead the cave seemed to shrink. It looked an awful lot like the inside of a very large set of teeth. Sweet Merlin, they were teeth! Han tipped the ship sideways and cleared the large enamel monsters with a few feet clearance. He had to hand it to the man, flying was his forte.

Their pursuer's quickly located them and from the sounds of it the few hours of repairs had accomplished exactly nilch. The whining sound and look on their faces said it all. The Falcon shuddered as its shields absorbed several blaster hits. Some more yelling and hollering resulted in them making a sharp turn and heading straight for the massive wedge shaped vessel. Even Harry was beginning to think that frozen in ice might not have been such a bad idea. Better than being frozen in space, right?

They made a very close pass to the command deck of the Cruiser and instantly cut forward thrust, tucking in behind the massive vessel. Harry even saw the bridge crew of the ship duck at the unexpected maneuver. A jolt signaled their less than perfect landing on the rear of the enemy ship. Everyone in the cockpit remembered to breathe after a few seconds.

C3PO was chatting away like there was no tomorrow. Right until Leia switched him off. Harry turned to face her.

 _"There was a simple off switch this whole time? Merlin woman why didn't you tell me?"_ This time it was the princess who smirked mischievously.

A few moments later the ship shuttered and spun in lazy circles. They caught a glimpse of the rear of the Imperial Navy ship as it ejected a load of metal debris before Han punched it. Oh, they were hiding with the jettisoned Garbage. Smart move.

Unfortunately for Harry C3PO was turned back on to resume his study of the English language while they continued their travels to god knows where. The robot could now crudely communicate with him, though sentence structure and grammar seemed to suffer greatly. His understanding of intergalactic basic was abysmal, though with only a little over a day under his belt it was understandable. But he was nothing if not a quick learner. He felt like an idiot not knowing what they were saying.

Hours later the princess came to check up on their progress, only to find him face first on the table, holding whatever written literature they could scrounge up around the ship. He heard the door swish open and looked up, forehead bright red.

" _Thank merlin. I am absolutely done for today."_

C3PO twisted his head and addressed the Princess. "I believe he is thanking some form of deity."

Leia actually laughed. "I take it you have a firm grasp of his language then?" The protocol droid nodded. "Indeed I do your highness. His native tongue is fascinating, considered the global luinga franca amongst his planet before the ice age.

It relies heavily on auxiliary verbs and word order for the expression of complex tenses, aspect and mood, as well as…" Leia cut the Droid's exited ramblings short with her raised hand.

"A yes or no answer will suffice in this case." C3PO looked aghast at being ordered to express himself with such a limited vocabulary.

"Yes." The robot replied, though rather testily. Now they were getting somewhere, she thought.

"So Hoth used to be inhabited by humans?" C3PO nodded, not even checking with Harry. The Wizard had explained a great deal of things to the droid once they could effectively communicate.

"Yes. I believe they called their Planet… _Earth."_

While completely rewriting what they knew of the icy world was all well and good the Rebel Commander wanted to know more about Harry himself, specifically how he did the things she'd seen.

"Please ask him how he does some of the things he…well does. The teleporting. The animals no one has ever seen."

The droid nodded and spoke to Harry, who'd been content with watching them interact. Galactic Basic was anything but basic to him.

" _It's an ability unique to a small percentage of my people."_ He frowned, remembering that he was all that was left of _his_ people.

Leia pursed her lips, trying to find the right words to explain the mysterious Jedi. "There are legends that lifeforms, including Humans possess abilities you demonstrated. Luke shows signs of them, and you already met Lord Vader."

"Lord Vader?" Harry repeated in amusement.

"He is the one you fought against back on Ho- Earth."

" _The funny sounding guy with the cape?"_

Leia again laughed. She'd never met anyone who could make fun of the Emperor's right hand with such casual ease. Then again, he'd fought him to a standstill, so maybe he earned that right.

Harry had replayed their fight dozens of times in the last day or so. The man certainly was no stranger to combat. But a magic user he certainly wasn't. There was no medium like a wand, no magic in the air other than that of his own making. No, Vader had tapped another form of energy. One that up until today Harry wasn't even aware existed.

"Yes." She bit her lip, hoping not to come across as desperate. "Powers like yours could benefit the Alliance greatly, especially against someone as powerful as he."

Harry's easy going façade morphed into something unreadable. Something guarded.

 _"I don't wish to fight in a conflict that doesn't concern me."_ The wizard crossed his arms. He'd been correct with his earlier assumption. The girl wanted to recruit him.

Leia frowned. This wasn't going the way she'd planned. She'd been so sure that he'd join or at least assist after saving them from Vader.

"The Empire is the root of all evil in this Galaxy" she said with much resentment. He leaned forward and stared her directly in the eyes.

 _"And I'm sure if the Empire had been the ones to pick me up they'd be saying the same thing."_ She wanted to protest but he didn't give her the opportunity. _"Point is I don't know anything about you and your Alliance, nor this Empire. And I have no way to verify any proof you decide to share."_

Leia wanted to argue but forced herself to look at it from his point of view. "So all you need is proof that they are evil?"

C3PO translated and Harry sighed, cupping his face.

 _"Yes…NO! I don't even know what I want."_ Harry threw up his hands. _"Merlin, Two days ago I was fighting to keep ten thousand people alive, only to find out I failed. And now you want me to pick sides in a fight I know absolutely nothing about. I'm sorry. I don't have an answer for you."_

The robot took a few moments to relay his response. Leia closed her eyes. Yes of course. She'd been taught from a very young age that the Empire was everything Alderaan stood against. And had until the bitter end.

Harry, observing her anger fade wondered just how desperate things must be for her to ask him, a perfect stranger for help. With hesitation he cast a Legilimency spell at the girl from under the table. The grief and despair from the memory left him reeling, physically making him want to back away. Of course being seated in a cramped bench all he managed was to lean back and gasp. Leia scrunched her eyebrows at his odd behavior.

He smacked his forehead. _"Damn, they blew up a planet?"_ Harry quickly lowered his hand again and met her eyes. _"And he made you watch."_

Her eyes widened when the blasted droid translated the whispered words. "What did you just do? And how did you know that?"

Harry smacked their translator, still massaging his temple. _"Way to go you ruddy pile of scrap."_

Leia was about to repeat herself when Han announced their imminent arrival on Bespin over the ships intercom.

With a growl she got up and made for the door, then turned and shook a finger at a still seated Harry. "This isn't over."

No, he reckoned it wasn't. With a sigh he followed the Princess to the cockpit, mindful of her slender back, covered by the white winter gear she still donned. He'd glimpsed much more than the single but terrible memory. A lifetime's worth of images, often happy rushed by faster than he could process. Harry recognized it to be a dangerous phenomenon Professor Dumbledore had warned him of when performing the mind spell.

A Cascading effect that could occur when performing the spell on someone or something very different, biologically speaking. It was a term coined by a brilliant scientist named Erwin Hobbard, whose knowledge and willingness to use the spell was so well known all of the people who associated with him knew Occlumency. He eventually turned his wand on animals and realized that if the brain scanned was not similar enough to the Wizard's or Witches the information could not be accessed safely. Nothing but the most vivid or traumatic memories could be gleamed in any context or order. The rest was a jumbled mess of Images, sounds, and emotions with no context. Harry hadn't thought he'd ever experience this. Though they may look like him, these individuals were different enough that mind magic didn't work on them.

That evoked a very important question. Where had these humans originally hailed from? Since they knew nothing of Earth or its long History it seemed probable their genetic lineage diverged a very long time ago. The fifteen thousand years on top of that would only compound this. What if he some sort of Neanderthal version of the modern human race? Harry wasn't stupid enough to think another lifeform evolved to look exactly like the modern Homo sapiens of Sol. No, either Earth was the human cradle of life and someone or something took his early ancestors to the stars OR they were the offshoot from another world.

In practical terms it meant little, except that his mental arts were useless. Well, he'd always been pants with the whole mind reading bit. Harry sincerely hoped the defensive Occlumency worked though. Actually, he hoped no technique existed that could overcome his mental shields.

But back to the images. Many showed a Palace of some sort. Leia wasn't just a Rebel Commander. She was royalty. Small things like the way she carried herself, or her body language confirmed it. During his time by the Prime Minister's side he'd brushed elbows with many of England's and Europe's royal families.

Yes, there was no doubt in his mind. So that planet he saw getting destroyed was where she hailed from. Harry felt a rush of anger at this Vader person. He'd seen him in the short memory as well. He shook the thought as he entered the cramped cockpit. The view was stunning, like being in one of those Muggle Airliners.

White clouds hung lazily in the sky, like a never ending sea. The interior of the falcon was lit up by the golden light of the sun. Harry wondered which planet this was, since they were still in the solar system. Probably one of the gas Giants, considering most of the inner planets had no atmosphere.

A pair of strange double hulled yellow craft appeared next to the starboard side. Escorts no doubt. They barked orders through the radio and the ship banked to the left, towards a small silver dot off in the distance. It rapidly grew into a city, with spiky towers on top and a sturdy looking shell ringing it, perhaps to keep the massive structure stable during high winds. It sat perched on a rather flimsy looking base that disappeared into the misty soup below.

The fatigued old ship zipped over the cloud city's skyline and settled on an unremarkable metal landing pad. Solo hadn't even powered down the engines before he was out of the seat and walking down the ramp.

Harry, Leia and Chewie remained near entrance, looking skeptical.

 _"So I take it we're here because the ship's still broken?"_ the Wizard inquired.

Leia grunted in confirmation, not quite ready to talk to Harry just yet. The Wookie gurgled, causing C3PO to spin around. "What do you mean he won the ship in a card game?"

* * *

 **Well, here it is, the customary Potter vs Vader fight scene. The scene was actually my second attempt. I finished it on my tablet and as it saved the thing crashed. Lost the better part of 2000 words. And it was already midnight. The rewrite did turn out better, but it really, really sucked.**


	4. Chapter 4

A dark skinned man with mustache and cape emerged from the door, flanked by a half dozen security personnel. Seriously, what was it with people and capes in the future? The man called Lando Calrissian as he'd learn later looked at Solo much like most people in the Galaxy would. With a sneer.

Here we go again, the Wizard thought with a sigh, letting his wand slip from its temporary holster. It was conjured, and would at most last another day. He needed to find a good seamstress and get better clothes, or at least some raw materials to transfigure. His current outfit was ok, but made him look like some disposable extra in a cheap sci-fi click.

The man raised his voice, his disapproval for their Captain becoming apparent. Harry's eyebrows furrowed. Wait, since when did he think of this man as his captain? The armed men around the official shifted into positions. Things were about to get ugly. The others seemed to come to the same conclusion. Then the man barked in laughter and roughly hugged the Smuggler. The simple show of emotion melted away the tension in on the landing pad.

Leia relaxed somewhat, sighing. Ever since the evacuation she'd been on edge. It was beginning to take a toll. The man named Lando strolled over with Han and introduced himself. While Harry only received a firm handshake, the Princess on the other hand was lavished with compliments. What else would he say to her with a winning smile like that? Both Solo and Potter rolled their eyes and the group was led inside.

Harry, though not privy to what was being discussed was too busy being distracted by the futuristic architecture and clean white walls. As such the Wizard missed as his personal translator wandered off into a service corridor.

They were shown to a lounge area with adjacent washing facilities. A robotic tailor stopped by took their measurements. Han left to catch up with his old 'friend', and Chewbacca was busy searching for C3PO. That left Harry and Leia.

"Guess it's just you and me for now." He casually stated. Harry became uncomfortably aware just how much he'd been relying on a machine to aid him with basic communication. Leia offered him a passing glace before continuing to gaze out the window. He sighed.

"I sorry" he stated in Basic. She didn't turn. Well, that could have gone better. With the deeply thoughtful verbal apology out of the way he moved on to plan B. Women liked flowers. Especially to say sorry with. At least that's what Sirius said. Perhaps he should have consulted with Hermione, or even his mother.

After all, his Godfather was far better at bedding the fairer sex than talking to them. Well too late now Potter. He tapped her shoulder, and although reluctantly she did turn to face him, though with crossed arms and a look of; 'now what?' on her face.

Harry's face scrunched with concentration. He'd conjured a lot of things before, but two dozen long stem red roses were not among them. Yet there they were, in such exquisite detail that they looked as though he'd just picked them up from the flower shop off Lorne Street in downtown London. The detail put into the conjuration bordered on the obsessive. Well above NEWT level, though it took a trained eye to appreciate the subtle detail. None the less, Leia was pleasantly surprised and quickly buried her nose in the colorful petals after accepting them. She muttered a shy 'thank you' and Harry smiled.

Mission accomplished.

Their tailor robot returned to drop off the custom made garments and she disappeared into the shower. With a small smirk and wink she uttered a simple phrase. Harry assumed it meant; 'don't peak', though he'd gladly play the language barrier card to test if it was true.

He laid out the clothes and inspected them rubbing the fabric between his thumb and index fingers. Very good quality, though he couldn't pin what the material was. It felt like silk, but he neither liked the style nor color. Though never good with tailor spells, he'd picked up a few techniques for custom making armor.

The flashy navy blue material morphed into heavy maroon overcoat made of leather. The pants stayed close, but flared a bit towards the end in order to fall over the footwear. He liked the boots enough to leave unaltered.

Unfortunately the amount of material the Wizard had at his disposal was limited. His current clothes, still on his person morphed to complete the outfit. The light white windbreaker turned into a dark long-sleeved shirt. The rebel issued legwear hetransfigured into a heavy duty belt and wand holster. He'd also need to get himself a Laser pistol at some point. Not out of necessity, but because it was cool as hell.

Silk would have been nice as an undershirt but he wasn't some pampered little bitch. The transfigurations were permanent, but the material wouldn't be as durable as real leather. He spelled the articles against rain, abrasion, and most importantly heat against blaster fire.

It was the best he could do for now. Harry had just finished dressing when a wet haired Leia Organa stepped out of the steamy Washroom, towel in her hair but otherwise clothed. The Princess's eyes travelled up and down his body, inspecting the garments with a critical eye.

"See anything you like?" Harry asked before switching places with her. Truth be told the maroon and white outfit she wore was very nice. Leia sat down on one of the white couches and gazed upon the flowers he'd made. They would last about an hour longer.

Harry continued to surprise her. He was hard to communicate with, though she suspected that would become easier with time. He was showing a willingness to learn their language. He was also rather sweet. The flowers he made her as a way of saying sorry were quite stunning. She'd never seen such a plant before. Obviously they were an Earth Species. She would have to ask him about it later, when they found C3PO.

But the reason for that apology scared her. He could read her mind. Yes, she'd explained what happened to Alderaan back in his old base on Hoth, but there was no way he would have understood her. He could read minds, and although the experience seemed to cause him discomfort it made her wary of him. She dried her hair and carefully braided it the way she'd come to like it.

The door hissed open, admitting Han. She became acutely aware that they were once again alone, and from the look in his eyes he'd made the same observation. The vibrant red on the table caught his attention.

"That Lando is a real smooth talker." He shook his head, wearing an amused expression. "I take it he brought these up?"

Leia crossed her arms, trying not to grin at what she was about to say.

"No, actually. Harry made these for me." The easygoing look he'd had melted faster than butter in a frying pan.

"Did he now?" Ah, there it was. The jealous monster lurking inside Solo. She decided to push it a bit further.

"I think it's rather sweet."

Han was close to blowing. She could tell. "Is that so?" Sadly her fun was ruined by the arrival of Chewbacca, holding a box with a very familiar droid.

"Chewie, what happened?" They both forgot about the previous conversation. Chewie explained in a series of fast, choppy grunts and roars. "You found him in a scrap processing facility?"

"I knew we couldn't trust this Lando Character." Leia added just as said character walked in a second later with a million dollar smile. Whether he'd heard her or not was anyone's guess.

"Sorry, am I interrupting anything?"

Leia huffed and declined to comment. They joined him for 'refreshments' shortly after. Harry was still in the shower, and without C3PO informing him could become extremely awkward very quickly. Besides, he was a grown man. Leaving him alone for an hour shouldn't be an issue.

Ha, as if!

Harry exited the shower to find their room vacant, save for a box containing the bits and pieces of his translation droid. Confused he scratched his damp scalp, inspecting it closer. Was this some sort of sick joke? Harry haphazardly laid out the various body parts, hoping they were correct. In all honesty he hadn't paid much attention to C3PO after their initial meeting.

Why the hell would someone dismember the droid and leave it in a box? Upon closer inspection he found both the container and couch it was resting on to be covered in Wookie hair.

Marvelous. He gripped his wand tighter. Well, here goes nothing.

"Reparo!" the metal head rattled on the table and slid down towards the torso. Bundles of wire reached out to greet their severed counterparts inside the complex interior. He repeated the process for each of the limbs before flicking the switch on the base of his…skull?

The robot said some gibberish before its optical processors registered who was in front of it.

"Master Harry?" the wizard sat down on a couch arm and folded his arms.

"Mind telling me how you ended up as six separate parts inside a box?"

C3 looked down at his form, confused. "I put you back together." Harry added to move things along.

"Oh. Well you have my profound gratitude Master. I was following your party when…-oh my."

Harry waited for him to go on. One of the first things he'd picked up about the quirky Robot was that rushing it got him nowhere. The thing simply got flustered and rambled on about confusing human behavior.

"Take your time mate" he sighed.

C3PO though needed no help getting himself exited and stumbled over towards his savior. "The Empire! Sir they're here on Bespin!"

Harry drew his wand and immediately fired a locking charm at the door. The Empire, while not very familiar to him yet seemed to know what they were doing. "How do you know all of this? You know what, never mind. We need to find the others. C'mon, I'm taking you to the Millennium Falcon."

With a deep breath he focused on the cargo hold of the ship, making sure to keep his companion in one piece for the jump. There was a good chance no one would be servicing that area. The hold was pitch-black, lit up by nothing more than the faint glow of the droid's eyes.

"Stay here." The command left no wriggle room.

"Do be careful Master Harry!" The Wizard cast a disillusionment charm on himself and apparated back to their temporary quarters. Four Storm troopers had found their way inside in the thirty seconds he was gone.

He blessed lady luck for his good timing. Harry dropped them with silent stunners, then cast a muggle notice me not for added protection. The facility was huge and he had no idea where his companions were. The door was mangled. Seems the Imperial Soldiers thought he was inside and forcefully entered. The realization that he was being searched for made him pause. It stood to reason that they'd likely put him with the others once captured. Harry transfigured one of the wood bowls containing fruit into a replica of his wand, then woke two of the guards.

"You've caught me" he drawled, much like Snape had whenever the man opened his mouth. He raised his hands to show he was 'unarmed', fake wand resting on the floor between them. The two jarheads shook off the effects of his magic and led him away. Perfect.

Harry was indeed led to the garrison's Commander. Unfortunately that person was Vader.

Oh shit.

The trooper on the left reported, but all he could focus on with the mechanical breathing apparatus. Odd, he hadn't heard that the last time they met. Why would he be on a ventilator?

Vader said something to him from the way his head turned, but he just shrugged his shoulders and told the guy off. Vader dismissed him, but kept the fake wand. In hindsight Harry should have turned it into a bomb.

Instead of being repatriated with his ship crew the young man was led to a far dirtier part of the facility. Storm Trooper number two jabbed his blaster into his back, causing him to grunt in disapproval.

"Keep that up and I'll permanently turn you into a Fire Slug." He warned. It was doable. Had McGonagall not interrupted Crouch junior Malfoy would likely still be a Ferret, though a very frozen one.

Harry followed the dangerous man down a ramp and towards a circular catwalk. Leia, Han and Chewbacca were already present.

Some Words were exchanged and the Wookie tossed three of the white armored warriors over the edge, including his personal tormenter. Too bad, Harry had wanted to try that spell for years. The various parties shot Harry concerned looks when he grinned at the man's misfortune.

Solo kissed Leia, and that grin vanished.

"I love you." She said, almost desperate. Han though just smiled crookedly. "I know."

Leia blinked. She expected something…well not that. Even Vader raised his head a fraction, as if he approved of the Smugglers cold hearted comment and the Princess's subsequent reaction.

'What the hell man?', the Princess practically screamed in her head as he was lowered into the pit? She'd professed her love for him, In front of the Empire's second in command no less! Yet all he'd said back was 'I know'?

Leia stood motionless as the gray smoke spewed out of the carbon freezing pit. She was ashamed to admit that it was a little satisfying watching it happen. A large metal claw reached in and pulled the thick slab containing Han back out.

What did he mean by that? Once again, even sealed in a solid block of Carbon the man continued to frustrate her more than out to be possible. The heavy elemental block tipped over and the Wizard was pushed inside. Bollocks, that wasn't part of the plan. Looking at what had happened to Solo he determined that he'd rather join those three White armored guys at the bottom of that chasm then be frozen again.

Harry counted to three and Apparated to the far end of the stairs, Wand ready to go. The heavy bludgeoners blasted the few remaining guards into the Abyss, though the greenish gray armored guy dodged rather skillfully. Unfortunately that gave the real threat enough time to blast the Wizard clean off his feet with his nifty little force trick.

Harry managed to snap off a cushioning charm before he hit a series of metal pipes, which dented and began spewing white mist all over the place. Despite the charm something inside him gave. Probably a couple of ribs if the pain blossoming in his side was any indication.

Vader was on him almost instantly, light saver lit and ready to dissect him like a science project toad. The Protecto shield fizzled bright blue as the superheated photon blade collided with the physical manifestation of his Magic. It was like holding back a fire whip from both Voldemort and Dumbledore at the same time.

The shield hissed and popped for a second longer before shattering. The split second it took for him to realize he needed to apparate was all it took for the lightsaber blade to dig into his shoulder, cutting through the fire proof charmed coat with ease. Harry screamed in agony before making the jump.

It was all he could do to keep the laser sword wielding killing machine from butchering him. Vader's blade sliced the metal grating where his enemy had laid, the metal glowing bright yellow.

Vader's head shot up, already knowing where his opponent would reappear. A split second later the rest of the floor around him screeched, folding up like flower petals from an approaching frost. Vader's sword arm was pinned.

Harry estimated the move had bought him a few moments. Behind them the bounty hunter and Wookie grappled, discharging the laser blaster into the ceiling. The injured Wizard shot an overpowered stunner at the pair, downing them both before summoning the Wookie.

Chewbacca flew across the flimsy catwalk and would have impacted Harry hadn't he sidestepped to avoid the 330 pound Sasquatch.

"Run!" he wheezed, holding his side with a grimace. The shoulder was a bloody mess. Harry couldn't move his left arm much, though he could still feel the limb, which meant that there was no nerve damage. The Wizard swore. He simply couldn't effectively keep the masked Sith at range in such a confined space, so running was the only thing they could do.

Leia shook her head.

" _What about Han?"_ the love sick Princess gestured to the carbon block. Harry looked back at Vader, who was just about free. He didn't have time to shrink the massive block.

"I sorry Leia." He answered in Basic. In his mind that sounded more like 'Fuck Han, we need to get out before this guy lobs our heads off!' Chewie had recovered enough to pull the distraught Princess with him. Lando had disappeared. Smart move on his part. Right now neither Leia nor Chewie would have any problems blasting the man clean off this refinery.

They staggered out of the freezing chamber and back into the white clean corridors. Harry fused the doors together. It was doubtful they'd hold him long.

oOo

Darth Vader de-activated his light saber and with only his wrist tossed it into his left hand. In a mere seconds he'd cut the deformed metal pinning the limb cleanly in two, but it had been enough time for the meddlesome young man to make his escape. With power and barley contained anger the Sith marched past the carbon encased smuggler and the unconscious bounty hunter.

The mercenary had done well to track Solo and his associates, but didn't seem to good in a fight. Then again not many could do battle with him repeatedly and live to tell about it.

The Strangers powers were truly remarkable. But he was using them ineffectively. Why Vader did not know, but the continued look of surprise the Dark Lord observed on the man's features led him to think that he wasn't familiar with the ways of the Jedi and Sith. He'd become a great deal more dangerous once that advantage disappeared.

He needed to be neutralized. And he planned on doing just that. Vader sliced thru the sealed door like it was tissue paper, but paused once free. Skywalker had arrived. Cursing his timing Vader swiftly moved the opposite way, leaving his men and those pathetic security forces on this lowly colony to stall the Princess and Stranger. He'd deal with them later.

oOo

The next few minutes involved sporadic firefights with the Imps and Calrissian's security forces. They slowed progress, and every second of delay increased their chances of running into Vader once more.

The sheer volume of blaster fire pinning them behind their current corner was enough to stop their progress completely. Even returning fire wasn't an option. The wound on Chewbacca's arm was proof.

Out of nowhere that scumbag Lando showed up. A one armed Woockie was still more than enough to choke his lights out, or would have if the weasel hadn't talked himself out of it.

"My own head of security sold me out to the Empire. I swear I didn't want any of this!"

If you asked him Leia trusted to easily. Whatever the guy had said though obviously changed her mind. Harry would have stunned and left him here had he the strength to spare.

His ribcage by this point was on fire. The pain was making breathing difficult. All the running wasn't helping either. The pain was making it difficult to focus.

Despite wanting to just rest Harry summoned a large swarm of hornets and sic'd them on the dozen or so combatants just ahead. The screams signaled that the way was clear, or at least would be in a few more seconds' time. He vanished the remaining insects and stumbled over the swollen bodies of the stations security detail, which weren't helmeted.

They were close. Leia watched as Harry disposed of two more Storm troopers with that stick of his. She hadn't been able to ask him how he did what he did,

The last door was up ahead. Beyond waited their ship. Han would disapprove at her claim, but he was stuck in a hunk of carbon so what he thought was irrelevant.

No, she wasn't bitter at all.

Leia supported the barley functioning Wizard, his good arm draped over her shoulder. Halfway across the breezeway the door hissed open. Leia spun, still propping him up when her heart sunk. Darth Vader had caught up with them.

"C'mon Harry, pull yourself together." She hissed, firing a few shots from her captured blaster at the casually advancing Darth Vader. Seeing his prey so weak, the man didn't even bother going all out and instead casually closed the distance, choosing to let his armored glove dispel the normally deadly fire. Vader knew his opponent was in distress, having hurt the force user badly enough this time to be confident that nothing could stop him now.

Chewie and Lando were already inside powering up the systems. They would never make it! She could have dropped him and ran, but Leia wasn't that kind of person. She'd already lost Han. There was no way she'd leave Harry too. The wizard, whose breathing had almost flat lined raised a shaky wand and unleashed a thin bluish white beam of energy.

The spell was unique to him, developed by his brilliant friend to help him defeat modern muggle electronics. There were two variants. An expanding bubble that ate up lots of energy or a direct line of sight fire and forget spell. The magic emulated an electromagnetic pulse. In previous cases it was a handy way of immobilizing cars, mobile phones, and all manner of tracking and listening devices.

What Harry wanted to do was compromise his breathing apparatus, and perhaps that blasted light sword of his. His light saber flickered and died as the spell contacted the blade. Vader himself stumbled and fell as if his legs were taken out from underneath him. Leia almost cried for joy and the sight of her Arch nemesis on his knees. She'd expected him to rip Harry from her arms and squeeze the life from her for having the gall to try and escape again.

The final act of defiance had been the final straw for her savior it seemed. Harry's knees buckled, nearly dragging her down with him. "Harry? Harry hang in there." She shifted her body and pulled him up the ramp by his arms. Chewbacca lifted off as soon as the two humans showed up on the airlock closed circuit camera.

Leia managed to drag their semi-conscious savior to the sleeping chambers and man-handled him onto one of the cots. He didn't look lucid, but she decided to say it anyway.

"Thank you Harry. That's twice now you saved me from Vader." She held his hand and was rewarded with a gentle squeeze before he passed out. Leia leaned down and gave him a peck on the forehead before strapping him in and making her way to the Cockpit. They were leaving cloud city.

As she strapped into the co-pilot's seat however Leia felt the overwhelming need to turn back. "Chewie, turn around!" the Wookie gurgled in confusion.

"No I'm not insane. Luke's in trouble!"

The Corrilian Freighter pulled up sharply and spun on its axis, rocketing back towards the facility. Leia verbally guided Chewbacca to the underside of the refinery, where the static dissipation arrays were mounted.

"There!" she pointed at a spot near the edge of the longest (you couldn't call it tallest since they all pointed down) antenna. Leia unbuckled and made for the top access hatch. Chewie helped her out and hovered right over where the Jedi was perched. He effectively fell into the Princess's waiting arms.

"Oww Luke. When did you get so heavy?" C3PO looked around frantically. "Where is R2?" As if on cue a series of exited squeals and chirping rang thru the ship's intercom. Leia peeked out of the small porthole and saw Luke's X Wing, piloted by the spunky blue and white maintenance droid.

R2's warning buzzed through Chewbacca's headset as well. There were tie fighters bearing down on them. The crazy droid managed to shoot down two before being clipped by the last. With power failing R2 inverted the X Wing over the Falcon and ejected himself into the still open hatch with an exited screech. His mass dented the heavy gauge metal floor plates yet only scuffed his shiny round head. The robot seemed to be made of stronger stuff than mere durasteel.

"We got them both!" Leia hollered. "Chewie, take us out of here!" The furry creature roared in agreement and pulled up, taking the ship out of atmosphere. The painfully familiar whine of the Hyper drive NOT working echoed thru the ship. Leia cursed, leaving the two badly roughed up boys in the crew quarters. Lando and Chewie were complaining about how much of a piece of junk this ship was, but fortunately R2 understood exactly what to do and overrode the software locks in place on the actually working drive. With a jolt the ship shot forward and out of the Sol system.

They'd made it.

* * *

 **What's this, a reasonably short chapter? Le Gasp! I know, shame on me. But it worked out that way. Things don't get much more final than the Falcons Hyper drive finally working. I wanted to leave Lando behind, but I guess we need him for the next movie.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A few readers pointed out in the previous chapter that Vader couldn't have dealt with Harry and Luke simultaneously. The idea was for Vader to initially pursue Leia and Harry, then focus on Luke when he arrived in cloud city. A multi paragraph POV of Vader has subsequently been added to make this easier to understand. Sorry for the confusion.**

* * *

For once he woke up not in a cramped spaceship cockpit, nor a Glass tube filled with green Jello. All right, so far so good! No, this fine morning (let's just assume for a moment) his sleep caked eyes took in the dimmed lights of a sterile hospital room. The room contained several beds like the one he currently occupied and not much else. A recovery room perhaps? Oh, there was a big window as well.

Harry sat up, surprised that he wasn't in pain. In fact, he felt amazing. But let's shelf his state of health for a second. The view beyond that window was simply stunning. A Spiral Galaxy, picture perfect as if it had leapt out of a muggle astrology book. How long had the combined light of these countless stars traveled to reach his eyes? It was beautiful.

Ok, poetic moment over. It was time to figure out what happened. He remembered…pain. Reflexively his hand touched the shoulder, fingers idly tracing the still tender angry red scar that travelled down his collarbone. The lightsaber had been millimeters away from hitting his vital organs further down. The scar was mirrored on the back side. How long had he been out?

Swinging his legs over the side his bare feet connected the cold metal floor with a tap. Harry wore a simple white tunic and trousers. He was pleased to see that in the far future one didn't have to suffer the indignity of a hospital gown. Unfortunately his clothes were missing, as was his wand. Darn. He recalled fighting Vader with it (obviously), then nothing. Crap, did he drop it back on Cloud City?

A quick check ensured both the stone and cloak were still in his possession, nestled securely in the gauntlet. Ok, were this an Imperial ship he'd probably be restrained. So was this the Alliance then?

With nothing left to do and not wanting to wait for someone to check up on him Harry made a break for the door. It slid open noiselessly, but he wasn't quite prepared for the sheer glare the lights in the adjourning corridor emitted. The level of luminescence physically stung his eyes.

The passageways were like a maze. Everything was metal or that hard white plastic substance he'd seen back on Echo Base. The few signs he found were illegible, made up of simple symbols.

Finally after several minutes of wandering he ran into someone, specifically a female wearing an orange jumpsuit. She looked to be in need of a shower, with a bad case of helmet hair. Oddly enough it was white, and odd combination for someone with no wrinkles to call their own. Harry, not shy, simply asked away. _"Hey, I'm looking for my stuff. Also a robot, about yeh big, covered in gold, talks a lot. Seen him around?"_

The fighter Pilot blinked a few times and just pointed towards the large double door at the end of the hall. Harry gave his thanks, not sure if the pointer she'd given him would even lead somewhere useful. She winked at him with a half smirk and sauntered off, swaying her hips a little. Harry shook his head clear when she turned the corner. Right, off he went.

The doors let to a large space with more displays and controls than any place he'd ever seen. A command deck of some kind perhaps?

A host of heads both human and otherwise turned to face the newcomer.

" _Morning all_ " he said with an awkward waive. _"Hope I'm not interrupting."_

The Princess appeared from the crowd. "Harry!" she hugged him tightly. The mildly confused Wizard reciprocated after a moment's hesitation, unintentionally breathing in her scent. She smelt nice. Harry colored a shade or two as a result. Yeah, not creepy at all Potter.

A quick scan of the room showed a lot of frowning faces, mostly from the males. A few of the older women actually grinned. Great, it was like school all over again.

Leia pulled away and began a rapid fire explanation to the others. He sighed in frustration at C3PO's absence and instead focused on the strange alien with two very large eyes, though in a subtle way. He didn't want to be caught staring. Whatever she said though only quieted the room even more. He could hear the faint hissing of the life support trying to cope with the mass of bodies spewing carbon dioxide. They now looked at him with mild suspicion.

Ok Leia, what did you say to them? That I eat children or something? He scratched his head lightly. The older Woman conversed with her for a few more seconds and Leia led him out of the meeting.

"Err Leia?" She hummed, signaling that he had her attention. They did that a lot in lieu of actually talking.

" _You wouldn't happen to know where my wand is?" The wooden stick I carry_?" He waived his hand, as if holding a phantom version of it. _"Wand."_

Fortunately that clicked. She said a single word in basic. "Yes."

Leia excused herself and led him back towards the Medbay, but entered the room next to it. The lone bed contained the injured bloke from before, what was his name again? Ah yes, Luke.

Another med droid was working on his hand. Did something happen to it? Harry's attention naturally drifted to the exposed portion of mechanical servos and he did a double take.

When the robot poked his hand with a needle it twitched and the metal clicked, emulating tendons that would contract in any normal human's wrist.

"Cool" he muttered, pointing at Luke. The young man smiled. Next the two droids trundled over to greet him. C3PO greeted him in English while R2 squeaked in a series of beeps. The service bot rolled closer and a cover on his dome popped open, revealing the Elder Wand. _"Oh, you had it? Perfect, thanks Mate!"_

The droid chirped again and bounced around a little.

"It's good to see you back on your feet Harry. You've been in the Bacta tank for almost two weeks now." Leia said pleasantly.

Harry's eyes were still glued to the Luke's extremity, which was now being closed by a small fleshy access cover.

" _That long? Wow, that's a new record even for me."_ Harry grinned sheepishly.

Ah, so they'd stuffed him in one of those tanks again. _"Right. Well thanks for fixing me up. Healing the normal way would have been pretty brutal to be honest."_

She shook her head. "No, we should be thanking you! If you hadn't fought Vader again we'd all be dead or frozen like…" she choked up a bit.

Harry's easygoing smile faded a little and he gently patted her back. _"Don't sweat it your highness. I wouldn't have made it far by myself. Heck, I probably couldn't even find the ignition of that rusty old ship."_

She smiled and nodded, reminded of how Han always called her that. Her weak smile faded quickly though. How did Harry know she was royalty? C3PO maybe? The question dredged up the whole mind reading event from a few days ago.

"Harry, we need to talk about boundaries." She felt his hand leave her back as C3 translated.

"No, not that! Your mind reading. Explain yourself." Arms crossed and foot tapping on the ship's deck plates the 4'-11" girl put on a good show.

The relaxed mood in the room vanished, and Luke sat up straight, listening intently now instead of playing with his new hand.

" _Yeah, sorry about that. I was curious as to why you hated the Empire so much and thought I'd have a peek."_ He shifted uncomfortably. _"But apart from that one memory with Vader I was unable to do the technique properly. Needless to say your mind, and anyone else's is quite safe. And I'm sorry for doing so. I shouldn't have."_

She took the second apology at face value, but there was something that still didn't quite fit.

"How'd you know I was royalty?"

Harry smirked a little this time. _"I saw a few glimpses of your home. But what tipped you off was the way you carry yourself._ " He explained. _"Back on Earth I worked closely with a head of state. You royals stick out like a sore thumb."_

Luke laughed at this, but Leia only seemed go get madder. "Why you…"

The Wizard held out his hands, slowly backing away but never losing the amused look.

"So what will you do now Harry?" the Jedi wondered, saving him from all sorts of pain from her Highness. Leia indeed backed off, eager to hear the answer as well.

Harry's expression turned serious. _"Well considering Vader wants me alive I don't have much of a choice do I now? I'll stick around if you'll have me."_ He shrugged. _"Focusing on mastering your language and figuring out a way to fight that light blade of his effectively would be my number one priority. I know my Dark Lords. He won't leave me in piece, especially after fighting him like that."_

"So you'll join then?" Leia looked thrilled.

A silent nod was his answer. The princess shot up. "Great! I'll inform Mon Mothma and she'll assign you to a unit!"

Harry frowned. _"Easy luv, I said I'd join, but you can't expect me to be a grunt. I'll work for with you, yes, but more along the lines of an independent contractor."_

She crossed her arms and plopped back down on the chair, huffing. "Fine."

oOo

Learning another language from scratch was a painfully slow process, especially with a completely different alphabet. None the less, with each day his reliance on C3PO became less and less. Honestly, what better motivator was there? The machine continually talked his ear off.

Unfortunately because of the ongoing communication issue Harry wasn't permitted to go on any missions. Understandable, but it still blew. They'd transferred him to a bigger ship called 'Home One', but many sections were off limits, leaving him to explore a relatively small area.

The crew was mostly human, but since being brought aboard he'd counted nine different species. The idea that all could speak a single basic language made a whole lot more sense now. They mostly kept to themselves. Harry didn't mind.

His routine was similar to that of a certain Book Worm. Harry actually had regular contact with his dead friends and family through the Stone, though always in the privacy of his quarters.

Somehow Hermione, despite being dead still managed to learn Intergalactic Basic faster than him. Now she was actually tutoring him, like a weirdly attractive version of Binns.

Luke was gone a lot, on missions, training or otherwise. He did stop by to get his arse kicked by Harry every once in a while. Pretty much whenever the youngster thought he could finally beat the Wizard. Harry had to admit it was becoming more challenging. But that was a good thing. It helped him figure out an angle on Vader.

Research into a way to block the Jedi weapon was also progressing. All manner of shields spells had been tested. Thank god Hermione was there, because without the books as reference Harry knew only a fraction of them.

The lightsaber defeated them all, though the time it took and energy expelled varied. Fire and heat shields proved the best. No surprise there. The strain from blocking with Protecto Incendius was manageable, and the spell could even be wrapped around extremities.

If he wished Harry could actually catch a light saber blade in his hand, as Luke and spectators had found out during their latest practice match. The look of shock on Skywalkers face had been priceless. He'd followed up with a low power banisher using his free hand into Luke's unprotected side, hurling the novice Jedi into the cushioned wall on the far end.

Harry then held the saber for a second longer by the blade before it deactivated and clattering to the ground, no longer sensing the biometrics on the cylindrical hilt. Needless to say the crowd was left speechless.

Large open spaces, even on Home One were rare. There was no designated gym or sparring area. Instead Harry had asked that the mess hall be temporarily converted into an impromptu dueling area for a few hours every week. He could have just expanded the space, but didn't want to show these people everything. Besides, if the Rebel leader pressured him into helping he could use his abilities as leverage.

The crew caught wind of Luke and Harry's 'spars' and soon swarmed to watch, at least those lucky enough to be off duty. There really was no schedule. Leia unfortunately came to visit less and less, though she still watched most of their spars. When he tried to approach her she declined every time, stating she was busy. Harry was beginning to wonder if the mind intrusion had damaged their relatively new friendship beyond repair.

oOo

The palms of her hands were pressed into her temples, and had been long enough that if removed would reveal two red marks on her head. She'd stopped looking over the latest report from Alliance Intelligence several minutes before, instead just staring at the red symbol decorating the top of the document.

What the hell was wrong with her? Leia had been sure that once back into a jam packed routine she'd be able to forget about _him_. Yet watching them Spar seemed to have the opposite effect on her. Without the stresses and distractions of combat she could fully appreciate his fluid movements, precise attacks and parries when fighting Luke. He made the Jedi look clumsy in comparison. Like he'd been doing this for far longer than ought to be possible.

Thinking of Harry made her feel guilty. She'd confessed to Han, but with him temporarily out of the picture she'd apparently moved on without much effort. Did that make her a bad person? It certainly wasn't proper.

Then again Solo was a complete pig for how he treated her. She sighed in frustration. Leia hadn't told anyone about those last words to Han. To make matters worse, the other girls she regularly talked to and worked with were encouraging her to give the newcomer a shot.

His command over Intergalactic Basic was rapidly improving. She'd had a few short conversations when they ran into one another without the help of a translator. She could see he was sorry for the intrusion of privacy, and her stomach twisted painfully at the idea that he still felt guilty. Keeping her distance undoubtedly magnified this.

"Go to bed already Leia." A soft voice urged.

She felt the pressure of a hand on her shoulder. It was her friend Winter. Leia reached up and grasped her hand, nodding submissively. Perhaps she should. The self-imposed workload with Alliance intelligence over the last three months left her exhausted, both physically and emotionally.

She often cried after reading reports. Dozens of men and women perished every week because of the Empire. She simply didn't have a thick enough skin. Winter could have done it without blinking, while she'd always been the emotional one.

Leia watched her friend turn in for the night. 'Winter, what would you do?' Leia actually had a pretty good idea. She'd make it into a competition, a struggle to determine who was worthy of her hand. Or she'd just flip a coin.

Bottom line was she liked them both. There, it was out in the open. Well, at least within her head. Keeping herself busy was obviously not working. She needed to talk to him. To what end Leia didn't know.

You know what? Tomorrow she'd talk to Harry. Lay the cards on the table. Let the dice fall where they may. Damn, she'd been around Lando too much if she used gambling analogies.

oOo

"Harry James potter, age unknown. Home Planet-Hoth" The middle aged woman said with distaste. Who'd have thought the Alliance had an HR department? He felt as though this was an interview, and already things looked to be going badly. He'd been collected by Leia a few minutes prior with no idea of what was going on.

Leia too didn't have clue about what Mon had planned. She hadn't even talked to him yet!

"You've been with us for the better part of three months now." She stated coldly, interlacing her long bony fingers on the polished black table in the otherwise white room. Shockingly the Galactic Standard for telling time was off by only four days compared to that of Earth.

"Three months of consuming our limited supplies, taking up valuable space, and not really doing much other than play fight with Commander Skywalker." The female leader of the Alliance looked at him critically. "We've asked you to share your abilities with us, yet the only answer we get is it simply can't be replicated"

Harry crossed his arms wondering what this woman's problem was? Probably lack of a sex life. Though who was he to talk? It had been 10,000 years since he's had any.

"What's your point?" Harry wished his linguistic skills were good enough to at least antagonize the muggle a little. Instead he sounded like a clueless idiot.

"I think it's about time you earn your keep Potter. Commander Organa told me you were unwilling to properly enlist. I'm close to handing you a mop and bucket or simply kicking you off this ship."

Harry snorted in amusement. He'd wondered when this conversation was going to happen. "For your continued good health and that of your crew I'd suggest against exercising either of those options. You'll find that I can make your life a living hell."

He leaned back, not concerned in the slightest that she'd given him an ultimatum. In fact he'd counted on it.

"But if it's a return on your investment you seek you should have said so sooner. Tell me, what does the Alliance need the most right now? I'll happily procure it, if only to get you out of my hair."

Mon Mothma looked like someone had slapped her. No one spoke to her like that. Who did he think he was? Leia too was shocked. Both at the hostile attitude of the Alliance Co-leader and the verbal lashing she'd received for it from Harry.

"So you want a mission then? She hissed. "Fine!" Mothma walked over towards a computer terminal and began sifting through files. Leia recognized them as old plans, deemed suicide missions for their very low odds of success. A last resort strategy drawn up before their success with destroying the death Star.

"Ma'am, surly you can't be serious." The daughter of her longtime friend Bail Organa protested. The plan she'd glossed over and kept coming back to was one of the more outlandish ones, if not the most. She pulled it up on the main screen. It was a planet, highly developed, with a large fleet of warships in orbit.

The Imperial City.

This is where the Emperor resided.

"You think I'll assassinate the Empire's leader for you?" Harry made it sound as though it was entirely within the realm of things possible. "Don't be silly. If I take him down, I may as well take over. After all, why should I come back to this heap of scrap?" He laughed. "No, what you need, and have been denied again and again is a staging base. And I can definitely help you there." That peaked both Women's interest considerably.

"But know this, helping the Alliance doesn't mean I'll answer to you. There'll be a substantial fee for doing this, as well as a fair-sized ship with crew."

Mothma, despite her dislike for the young man sitting in front of her looked intrigued. His attitude when provoked was worse than that Solo character, but he also had infinitely more potential. She too had seen a few of his sparring sessions, and knew without a doubt that he was holding back.

This was the only way to force his hand. Mothma wasn't foolish enough to believe her arrogant act a few minutes prior. Though his simple dismissal of the Emperors assassination plot made her wonder just how powerful Potter was.

"Credits and a manned ship for a base. That sounds reasonable." Harry chose that moment to make one more demand.

"Of course I'll need an Alliance liaison. Someone I trust to act as a mediator between our two groups." She actually had to bite her cheek to keep from smirking. Here he was, alone and already talking like he was the Alliances equal. Leia's report of him didn't mention this level of arrogance.

"I want Leia Organa to be that person."

…

"What!?" The Princess was out of her chair in an instant. "There's no way I'd leave the Alliance to play diplomat for you! How dare you!"

Harry grinned, but his eyes never left Mothma's. Leia paused, looking from Harry to her leader. "Mon, you can't be serious. Mon!"

She couldn't believe it. Leia had known her leader since she was a little girl. She wouldn't dare.

Mothma though drove a hard bargain. After all, the Princess was a huge morale booster, not to mention a close friend and brilliant tactician. Leaving her with some green horn on a dilapidated ship she'd give him was not good Business.

"I'll consider it, but only if you divulge your entire plan right here, right now." The low even tone meant that her performance from earlier had concluded. This was pure negotiations now. Harry expected nothing less. After all, even if he spilt the beans now they'd never be able to duplicate it. Heck, even after several heated discussions with Hermione, Albus, and Fillius he wasn't sure if it was even doable. Not for one person alone, even with the Hallows.

"I'm going to turn one of your Capital ships into a mobile base. One of the specialties of my kind was special manipulation." Both women's eyes grew wide. "Specifically making objects on the inside larger than the outside."

"By what ratio?" Mon asked immediately, not even bothering to say that it shouldn't physically be possible. She'd been around the young man enough to know better. He regularly teleported to different parts of the ship with no technological assistance whatsoever.

The former Princess got the feeling that the final touches of her dowry were being completed. The sad thing was that were she in Mon's shoes she'd do it too. A mobile base was worth ten stationary ones. She glared at Harry.

"Ten to thirty times is quite easy. It gets exponentially harder the higher the multiplier." The Rebel leader leaned back, her mind racing. It was too good to be true. A thirty fold increase on their largest vessel meant enough space to fit every single Rebel in the Alliance at once, plus their equipment. This might be the most important negotiation she'd ever conducted. A bead of sweat trickled down her neck.

Harry leaned forward, a wicked smile on his face. "But that's not the best part. I'm currently working on a way to cloak the ship you'll eventually chose should you accept using Magic."

"A Cloak?" It seemed outlandish. Even the most advanced Imperial ELINT ships were nothing more than small hulls painted in a radar absorptive black paint. For centuries engineers around the Galaxy had tried to perfect light distortion, with only limited success. Yet some primitive from 15 millennia ago can do so with nothing more than a wooden stick. Preposterous!

"Stop wasting our time Potter. It's Impossible!" Harry's grin only grew. "Is it?" They saw a flutter of fabric before the Wizard and the chair he occupied simply disappeared.

Harry vanished the chair and slowly rose, sidestepping to avoid Leia, who wasted no time waiving her hand through the space he'd occupied until a moment ago. Of course the charm he had in mind didn't work the same as his cloak, but it was a proof of concept he wanted to demonstrate. Harry Potter, blowing Muggles minds since circa 1984.

"By the gods." The older Woman muttered. Leia was quiet, shaking slightly. Harry took note of her emotional state. He didn't mean for her to find out this way, but perhaps it was for the best. She'd probably have slapped him if Mothma told her later. Or worse.

"All right, we get it. Just show yourself." The Princess snapped angrily. Harry did just that, appearing right behind the two. They predictably jumped when he made his presence known.

The shorthaired Woman breathed deeply. "Potter, if you can pull this off you have yourself a deal."

oOo

If Harry thought she'd been mad at him before this was infinitely worse. Leia stormed out of the large office and disappeared down the hall. He adopted a more leisurely pace, retiring to his quarters. Confronting her now wouldn't accomplish anything in the slightest. When Leia got worked up, it was best to let her cool her heels.

Yet despite the additional personal setback with the Princess he counted today as a success. The Alliance Leader bought it all, hook, line and sinker.

The honest truth was that the tech running these ships was so far beyond him. He had no hope of building his own ship, yet alone operating and maintaining it. No, Magic was his forte, and perhaps a bit of manipulation. He whispered a silent thank you to his mentor and former boss the British Prime Minister. Though really it was a good deal for the Rebels. If he could pull it off that is.

He'd considered just helping them, but even if they did succeed and toppled the forces of Evil (god that sounded cheesy), what then? To Muggles he was nothing more than a powerful tool, to be controlled and kept in line. And when his usefulness ended he became a liability.

A ship and a crew would go a long way to becoming independent. He could learn about this new technology, and even more importantly how the rest of the Galaxy worked. After all, knowledge was power. And he'd need as much of an edge as possible if he wanted to weather this particular storm.

Heck, he'd gone from fighting a small insurgency group in a small country on a single planet to a Galaxy wide conflict. The scale alone was enough to boggle his mind. With his mind racing he settled on the thin lumpy mattress. He hadn't bothered fixing it. The muggles here didn't trust him, and did periotic room inspections.

The next day of course Mon Mothma asked for a demonstration of the expansion charm as well. He'd been practicing it and a few complimentary ones for the last few weeks. Threshold activated feather light charms and such. Filius Flitwick, even from the great beyond was a hard taskmaster. His homework was every bit as bad as seventh year, if not worse.

As a result though a single storage room on the MC80 Star Cruiser was now the size of a Quidditch pitch, and if measured and compared to the plans would stick out of the hull several hundred meters.

Leia couldn't believe it. This man continued to defy the laws of Physics like it was nothing. And he was using those powers selfishly. Harry Potter was every bit as bad as Han Solo, if not more so! He'd planned this for some time. That she was sure of. But why her? Yes, she'd thawed him from the ice. But what did he want with her?

She felt like an idiot for developing a crush on him. Oh how foolish she'd been. The Princess retired to her quarters, radiating a whole host of emotions, most of them negative.

* * *

 **A/N: Thus far this story has been much less humorous than I originally intended. I feel this is in part because of how complicated the tech here is. Harry knows nothing about it. It's difficult because to me the SW universe feels darker, more serious. As such Harry is keeping his cards very close for now, not really picking sides if he can help it.**

 **I considered long and hard what Harry should do with the endless opportunities presented to him.** **Simply** **becoming** **a** **lackey** **for** **the** **Alliance** **wasn't an option** **.** **The** **question** **then** **was** **whether** **he** **should work his way up the hard way, or with the** **Alliance** **'s help get a head start on things. This seemed logical. He'll get a ship and crew for services rendered, and can work with the Alliance if he wishes.**

 **Too** **bad** **his** **decision** **complicated** **things** **with** **the** **Princess** **.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you think, or what you'd have done. I'm interested to see what everyone has to say.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi all, it's been a while. I had to re-read and tweak this story before I could get into it again, but here are the results. Another chapter. Enjoy.**

* * *

The ship he'd been given was an old Separatist vessel, a Recusant-class light destroyer. The Separatists, he learnt were once a union of Independent systems and powerful groups with a very capitalist mindset. That meant instead of fielding large armies of organics they used an even greater number of battle droids.

He'd reviewed old Holo footage of these things in action. It was sad to see that muggles had found even crazier ways to fight each other. Though the term muggle might be incorrect in this case. A great many races had made up the Seperatists. Fortunately they'd been wiped out in the Clone Wars. Crazy right? Clones fighting Droids.

The ship was once able to carry 40,000 of the bipedal weapons platforms for boarding actions. A staggering sum. Since then the alliance had converted the original delivery mechanism and droid storage areas into additional holding bays. The best part though was that this ship needed very little in the way of crew. Much of it was automated.

It was perfect, even if the thing was over 40 years old and the bridge had next to no armor. He'd fix that later with a liberal dose of magic. For now the already large cargo areas would become even bigger thanks to his expansion charms, effectively making the vessel a miniature super freighter.

But unlike the lumbering defenseless giants this thing was armed to the teeth. 2 prow mounted heavy Turbolaser canons, dozens of turret mounted Turbolasers, and a sprinkling of point defense anti-missile and fighter armaments. The thing bristled with weapons.

Admittedly the crew areas weren't that expansive, but then again he didn't need acres of floor space. As for the crew themselves? Well, there was only about two dozen of them, most manning the bridge. The rest occupied engineering, where he was currently located.

With the modifications to the capital ship complete Harry had finished overseeing the transfer of the remaining Alliance cargo from the still nameless ship. Try as he might the Wizard could not think of a suitable name for the ship.

As the spaces were vacated he expanded them to over fifty times their original capacity, with the same threshold activated feather light charms the Home One now had. Imagine accelerating and decelerating 20 million tons of cargo. Muggle Freight Trains slowed down quicker than they would be able to.

Over the last week the hull was also magically strengthened, worn out systems refurbished with the flick of a wrist, and every square inch of the interior Scourgified. By the time he was done Mothma was reluctant to actually let him have the ship when she boarded to officially hand over the keys. It looked spotless.

Harry also felt his Magical reserves return to normal. Previously he'd relied on the Death Stick to do most of the heavy lifting. He always wondered if the Elder Wand was some sort of magical amplifier instead of just a focusing tool like normal wands. Harry had held many discussions about this with Dumbledore using the stone.

But back to his current task. One of the last things on his to do list was putting the last touches on a conjuring rune cluster in the portside fuel tank. The rune activated when the reactor started up, feeding the large power generator with up to a thousand tons of magically duplicated fuel a second. The numbers seemed outlandish at first, until one of the ship techs explained that it was the equivalent of that mass. The actual fuel was an exotic substance called Hypermatter.

The process was so quick the conjured substance didn't have a chance to disappear. Essentially the ship would be powered by magic. Problem was, there was no ambient magic in space, which meant the runes didn't work.

Yet.

He'd need to fit the vessel with large capacity magical sinks that would have to be recharged periodically by hovering over Ley lines. But hey, magic was free, and Hypermatter wasn't.

Harry resealed the hatch and ran a diagnostic charm on the array, making sure it couldn't activate when the reactor was shut down. Last thing they needed was a tank rupture spewing Hypermatter all across everything, conjured or not.

Thankfully the Ship's original crew largely remained. A few had refused to serve under him, and he wasn't about to force them. They were technically Rebels on loan for him. The idea of actually getting paid for once was too lucrative to pass up for most however. Their wages were peanuts when staked against having an experienced crew. He'd pay them out of pocket for now, using funds received by the Alliance. Later on, they'd need to ferry goods to turn a profit. Or steal from criminals.

Wiping his hands on a dirty rag Harry thanked the reactor room tech for teaching him the basics. He made his way along the narrow corridor that ran the length of the vessel. It was actually rather far from the Engine spaces to the rest of the crew quarters.

Perhaps some two way port key could cut down on that, and improve readiness times. Harry had just reached his quarters, ready to take a sonic shower when the intercom in the dimly lit space squawked.

He was being summoned to the flagship.

"We're all set to go." Harry replied cheerfully upon entering the Alliance council chambers, covered in grease and hypermatter residue. Much of the senior staff was assembled there, including Lando, recently promoted to General. He was met with frosty looks all around.

"Welcome Mr. Potter. Yes, I see your crew has asked for departure permission. You'll be on your way shortly, but we'd like assign you a temporary escort." Mothma stated coolly.

Harry cocked his head. "Sure." Of course they'd assign their posterchild a babysitter while she was with him. In the week it had taken to prepare his ship the general opinion of the Wizard had plummeted within the fleet. Rumor has it he was stealing away their dear princess. Well, if the shoe fit. Heh, all he needed now was a dragon and could fashion himself a real life sci-fi fairytale.

The Rebel leader expected protest, which only made her more suspicious. Harry though didn't have an ulterior motive. He just liked to keep the old Hag on her toes.

"We've assigned the Millennium Faclon to the task. The ship will journey with you for your 'shopping trip' as you so eloquently described it." Their new mobile space station was fully operational, but she was itching to get it cloaked the way the Wizard had demonstrated. His first task would be to return to earth and pick up a few goodies, if they survived.

After all the Fidelius charm required ward stones, preferably saturated in magic.

Lando, Chewie and Harry all shot one another funny looks. Leia sat to the side arms crossed, a permanent scowl of her pretty face. This was going to be awkward.

oOo

"I get the feeling you don't approve of your new assignment?" Harry asked later that night during dinner. He'd invited the Princess to his private quarters after they entered light speed.

She less than politely refused. Playing the evil antagonist card to his fullest she'd been brought up forcibly. She now sat across from him, pouting.

Harry put down his fork and sighed. "Look, I know you're mad at me. For various reasons I'm sure. But look at it this way. They've been keeping you cooped up on Home One as long as I have. Luke told me. At least with me you can go out there and make a difference."

"And just blindly follow your every order?" She spat. "Not a chance!"

Hostility and anger wafted off the petite former princess in waves, just like it had since the agreement was made. His repeated attempts to explain had been rebuffed.

Until now.

"Merlin Woman, I don't expect you to follow orders." He was raising his voice a little for the first time. With a short pause he calmly continued.

"If you want to go somewhere you can just ask me. Chances are I'll say yes. After we find what I need for the spell to cloak Home One we can even save your frozen boyfriend."

Leia's mouth clicked shut. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Right." Harry grinned before taking another bite of his flash frozen then re-thawed meal. Neither of them spoke for a good long while, though thankfully the silence was drowned out by the humming of the engines. He'd have to put sound dampening charms up soon, there was no way he'd be able to sleep otherwise.

"Why?" she finally said.

"Hmm? Why what?"

"Why did you pry me out from under Mon's thumb. Or offer to save Han for that matter? " The Wizard picked at some foreign vegetable he found tasted like a cross between squash and eggplant, neither of which he really liked.

It was true, Han had treated Harry rather coldly during their brief time together. Perhaps because he thought of him as a rival? Leia was sure Harry knew this as well. So why was he offering to help?

"It's pretty simple actually. The guy saved my bacon back on Earth. All of ours actually." He shrugged. "I owe him one."

Leia nodded, but didn't look convinced.

"As for your presence here? Right now the crew of this vessel is made up solely of alliance members. Considering I'm not part of their command structure I felt it necessary to bring a senior rebel commander with me to help keep things running smoothly."

"Why not just get your own crew?" Leia asked, not having expected that to be the reason.

Harry nodded. "In due time perhaps. But from what I understand this tub isn't exactly the latest and greatest. I doubt there are very many who know this ship better than its current crew. I'd like to retain them for the foreseeable future, perhaps even permanently. The pay would certainly eclipse anything the Rebels could offer."

"That might be a hard sell." Leia admitted. "The reason they joined was to fight the Empire, not haul around freight." She shot him a frosty look. "Legal or otherwise."

Potter grinned in approval.

"Ahh, but they will be doing something. The Niffler ( he finally found a suitable name for the ship that would make the Potter name as wealthy as it had been 15 millennia ago) has been attached to the Rebel fleet for how long? What exactly have they done in that time? This ship will give them plenty of opportunity to make a difference. Take a more aggressive stance against the Empire."

Harry shrugged. "Like I said, there's a good chance I'll go along with any plan that has a reasonable chance of succeeding."

Leia did like the sound of that. Mon has been too lax against taking the fight to the Emperor. She was a Politician, not a general.

Harry Potter continued to be an enigma to her. He'd helped the Alliance greatly, but only after negotiating for materialistic items. He wanted and received a powerful ship. For what purpose remains to be seen. She'd call him power hungry and manipulative for that reason alone. But he didn't want to control her as she'd first assumed. It seemed he craved independence more than anything.

As soon as they'd left the fleet he offered her nearly unlimited freedom. The only catch was he'd be coming along, to uphold the image of her being his liaison. It was a clever loophole around Hon Mothma's recent mother hen attitude towards the Princess.

The Rebellion didn't want her on the front lines anymore. Better to hide her away. She realized he was right. Her only way to go out there and make a difference was with him. Damn it all.

Leia looked up at her dinner host, who was gazing out the large window. He was powerful. Having Harry around might not be such a bad idea actually. But she had more questions. She needed to be sure he was trustworthy.

"Why did you ask for a ship as large as this?"

He turned his attention back to her. "Various reasons. It's easy to make money with it for one." Leia gave him a stern look. "But getting rich is not what I'm after, it's just convenient. The other is that pirates won't harass us in something this large. I'm actually shocked at how much Piracy you people have in the future.

'Though if the Fidelus test works we won't have to intimidate anyone', he thought to himself.

Harry still had his doubts about that last part.

"So you're telling me that all of this" she gestured around her "-was out of the goodness of your heart?"

He smirked. "Well, not completely. I did want to spend more time with you, and this seemed like a good plan. You have been giving me the cold shoulder lately."

"You're insufferable."

The Wizard laughed. "I can be. Now would you please end your self-imposed hunger strike and eat something? I fear you might get carried off in the breeze if the life-support kicks on." He nudged the plate towards her.

"Fine."

oOo

Harry stood at ease in front of the panoramic Glass window that lined the Bridge. He had to admit, the view was almost worth having no protection. The Glass of course was already rather thick, and covered by their strange version of shields, called deflectors. Harry had since magically strengthened the glass further, though he had no idea what a direct turbolaser hit would do to it.

Far below the bright white surface of Earth greeted them. The Empire had demolished the Rebel base, leaving a large crater in the ice. Fortunately the surrounding topographical features hadn't been altered by the orbital bombardment, meaning he had a rough idea of where the other silos were in relation to Phoenix base. The most promising was the Russian one because of its nuclear design. Still, ten thousand years was a long time.

They opted to take the Falcon instead of the Nifflers shuttle, in case any Imp's lingered around. The old Correlian freighter quickly zipped down to the surface, landing roughly where Harry assumed the old base laid.

It was nearing dusk, meaning they only had about an hour or so of light left. It was sunny, making the white that much brighter. Harry conjured himself a set of Aviators before normally walking down the ramp with the others. The large blast crater had vaporized a large amount of ice, which in turn fell as fresh snow in the surrounding areas. The newest layer of the white fluffy stuff reached to their knees.

"So, now what?" Lando hollered over the biting wind. The man preferred the climate controlled areas of ships or his former mining colony over this. Harry couldn't blame him.

Wand resting on his palm, he whispered 'Point me Russian base' The wand quivered slightly and spun, facing the Falcon. Harry trudged around the round ship, keeping an eye out for subtle shifts of the wooden stick. It took twenty minutes, until finally it simply spun as Harry walked in a loose circle.

"Were here" he hollered. The sun by then was nothing more than a sliver over the far away mountain range. Very soon now it would be dark, and the already cold temperature would plummet to lethal levels.

With that in mind Harry transfigured much of the snow into simple stone waypoint. They couldn't risk staying down here for the night. The cold itself wasn't the issue, but with the ship being so much warmer and radiating heat moisture would collect on the surfaces and freeze. Which was bad.

They'd come back tomorrow.

oOo

The next day the excavation began in Ernest. The Niffler hovered about a kilometer above the spray-painted large X marked in the snow and fired one of its turbo lasers at a low continuous setting. The ice quickly melted and turned into steam, wafting from the growing hole. Progress was steady, and about an hour in they hit bedrock. Thanks to the point me spell it was also the convenient location of a metal hatch, flush with the bedrock. It was in very poor condition.

A weak blasting charm disintegrated it completely. Leia and Lando cracked a few chemical lights and dropped them into the hole. They didn't drop far. It seems the Russians had done something similar to their entrance and plugged the opening with transfigured rock. Harry could feel the residual magical energy that hinted it was not originally granite like the rest of the rock around it.

Without knowing what that material was before he could not turn it back. Instead he vanished the thing. This time the glow lights plummeted far below the surface, so far they couldn't be seen. Stale air rose up, warm and humid.

It was time to go down the Rabbit hole.

A roughly transfigured rope pulley with oversized basket descended through the narrow shaft. It reminded him of the depressing decent when he checked up on Phoenix base over three months ago.

Chewie had remained behind to control their decent, and in the minute chance that if there was someone left down there he wouldn't scare them to death.

"So, what exactly are you hoping to find down there Harry?" Lando asked. Leia was still occupying herself with shining a light down the shaft.

Harry shrugged, eyes still closed, leaning against the basket's side wall.

"Survivors? Gear? Whatever I can salvage really. Ivan built his base higher up. With luck above the water table. If the place is dry, perhaps something or someone survived.

"If they did they must be insane from staying down there for so long." Leia added, speaking for the first time today.

He sighed quietly. Despite their chat two days ago she still didn't fully warm up to him. She certainly was difficult to deal with. But If nothing else Harry was patient. One of the perks of being several hundred years old he supposed. She'd come around…eventually.

"I doubt it. Wizards and Witches top out at around two hundred. I'm probably the oldest. They're either dead or in cryo storage. Maybe there are a few base keepers like I was, but it's doubtful.

"Probably, Lando asked?"

"Well there was this fellow who made himself immortal through an artifact called the Philophisers stone. Some sort of elixir of life. I'm honestly not sure what happened to old Nicholas."

Perhaps he'd call the man up later, just to check.

The basket finally touched down on solid rock after what felt like forever. Lando radioed Chewie to stay put and the trio began to explore. The Russian base certainly had a different layout. Their strange alphabet could be seen in use denoting each space they passed. The walls in some areas were crumbling, simply from time rather than decay. At least there wasn't water.

Like the other doomsday bunkers on Iceland this one was a mix of muggles and magical. The secrecy laws towards the end of Humanities existence simply became unimportant.

What the team found however was not a thriving and healthy populace of Russian Magicals and Muggles. There was evidence of a battle here. Damaged concrete walls, floor and ceilings. Blasts had gouged out chunks of the stuff almost wherever he looked. Frail skeletal remains holding Kalashnikovs and wands littered the halls.

There had been civil unrest here. The how's and the why's were beyond him. With the shake of his head Harry studied the scattered loose bones that littered one fortified area. Sandbags covered most of the passage, with a heavy DShK still mounted to a tripod, its muzzle pointing out of a small opening.

Harry squatted down to pick up one of the wands intermixed with the hundreds of spent shell casings that littered the floor. He gingerly rolled it between his hands before it crumbed to dust.

There was a good chance that whatever they found here would be equally damaged by time unless protected by a preservation charm.

"This place looks like it's seen better days" Lando muttered, blaster loosely pointed at the floor. So far there had been nothing to warrant its use, but Harry had warned that some booby traps could very well still be in place.

The sweep took most of the day, but did yield something. Blank ward stone, uncaring of the ravages of time. Dozens of them, along with food and other supplies kept in suspended animation by the Russian wizards. There was even stores of Vodka!

Just like Phoenix base the Russian Cryo chambers were all without juice, which meant that they were nothing more than fancy caskets. The reactor had sustained damage dutring their little conflict. In fact the second the team had entered the bottom level housing the power plant their Radiation devices began blaring something fierce. It was a shame, because in all likleyhood the Russians would still be alive today.

But one peoples loss was another man's gain.

Harry now had access to Brooms, tents, a Pensieve. There was even a dedicated storage room brimming with potions.

The wizard almost didn't need to seek out Gringotts at this point. Except that he'd be a fool not to clean out the Wizarding and muggle banks and treasuries of their precious metals. He'd inherited an entire civilizations worth of wealth.

And Gold was still worth credits out there.

oOo

Chewie and Lando had to pinch themselves when they entered the holding areas of Fort Knox. The Galleons they'd pulled from the London Branch of Gringotts paled in comparison to what the American Muggles had kept in Kentucky.

"Sweet mother of all that is holy." Calrissian muttered as his flash light glistened of the mass of yellow, illuminating his face. There were heavy duty steel shelves packed to the gills with bars.

"I see why you needed that big of a ship now" Leia muttered. Alderaan had been wealthy, but this bordered on the obscene. Had the humans of this world really been that greedy?

Harry seamed to read her mind and chuckled. "Most countries up until the 1940's used the Gold standard as currency instead of the Fiat currency you call credits."

Leia nodded in understanding. A very primitive way of handling monetary policy, it limited growth to what resources this planets population could extract.

What caused you to deviate from this standard?" she asked, curious about his Worlds history. Harry shook his head. "War, what else?"

"Of course." She retorted in a sad voice.

"And what exactly is your plan for all of this wealth?" The Princess asked, hefting one of the rectangular bars with both hands.

Harry shrugged. "Sell some of it I guess. Invest, trade maybe. I can't flood the market with too much or the rest will devalue. I'll sit on it for a while I suppose. It might be a good way to pay the crew, if they like the idea.

"Of course you're more than welcome to have some as well. I'm not laying claim to all of it."

"Really?" the two humans and Wookie chorused in unison.

Harry laughed at their reaction.

oOo

Their last stop was literally in the middle of nowhere. It had been one of the most magically charged places on the planet, with multiple intersecting Ley lines. In the past it had also been the location of the Dragon sanctuary in Romania. The reptilian beasts were of course all gone, but the magic that drew them here still remained.

The stone cutting charms made quick work of some truly massive boulders, carving them into perfect cubes. There were destined for the Niffler, to be used as the magical sinks the ship would need to power the Runes.

Getting them aboard was a bigger issue than making them. One couldn't shrink, feather light charm or handle them otherwise with magic.

Fun fact, Hogwarts's Ward stones were quarried from the Glensanda region of Scotland, several hundred kilometers away and transported without magic by innovative muggles to their current location. The irony of enlisting non magicals to help to build a Magical School was not lost on Harry.

They suspended operations for the day when a blizzard began rolling in over the mountains. The blocks still sat on the surface, while the ship once again retreated into orbit.

The crew, while small did congeal three times a day for meals, and tonight was no different. The wizard headed towards a free spot in the mess, tray laden with food and a bottle of Earths finest sprits tucked under his arm.

"So I'm fairly sure we need to make a hole in the Nifflers hull if we want to take those blocks of Granite with us."

The ships chief engineer, who up until that point was having an average to moderately positive day groaned in annoyance.

"Oy, quiet peanut gallery!" Harry shouted without hostility.

"They won't fit through the bay doors?" Leia asked. Harry shook his head.

"They could, but I need them located in certain places once aboard. Hard points that can take the weight of 25 tons of rock. Remember I can't lighten them."

The ship had a gross weight of over 60,000 tons empty, so the stones would be like a drop in the bucket. But even with the artificial gravity turned off, they would need to be braced when the ship maneuvered, lest they smash through half its interior.

The next day the Niffler sat on a snowy landing platform Harry had made in the mountainous terrain, and the blocks were lifted via cranes into the belly of the ship. The Hull pieces torched away were reattached to the ship. The whole process went off without a hitch.

He stood on the very edge of the bridge, where the glass actually extended underneath and became a part of the floor, gazing over an alien landscape. According to the sensors he was looking at Europe, but the lack of liquid water made the coastlines tricky to identify.

"This will probably be the last time I lay eyes on her." He stated somberly.

Leia, who'd been leaning against a nearby bulkhead pushed off and walked over to where he stood. She debated how to proceed but eventually decided to rest her head against his arm. Harry placed a hand around her shoulder, remembering how he always did so when Evelyn was with him.

Her question drew him back to the present.

"Huh, what was that?"

"I said why do you have white powder on your hands…and pretty much everywhere else?"

He laughed. "Oh, I drew out the patterns in the Rune sinks earlier with chalk. A couple of the maintenance droids are crawling all over them right now inscribing them with their lasers."

Leia was no slouch when it came to star ship operational systems, and what Harry had done to the old Separatist vessel was nothing short of astounding. The ship had a mass less than a fifth of what it should have been, and most systems had been tweaked with magic in some shape or form. It could haul more than a dozen heavy freighters.

"And how long will these magical batteries last before they need charging?"

He continued to stroke her arm gently, feeling the goosebumps on her skin from the cool air conditioning on the bridge.

"Hard to tell really. But realistically 6-12 months is what I figure." He'd done the Arithmancy with Hermione a few days back, and that was their best guess.

He looked down at her. "Have you decided what you want to do once we cloak Mothma's new base?"

She absently bit her lip, studying the white orb intently. Her mind was clearly somewhere else entirely.

"Lando and Chewie managed to find Han shortly before you decided to kidnap me." She liked to tease him about the agreement between the Alliance commander and Harry. It was far better than the month-long silent treatment before they got underway. Heck had he known Harry would have forced her to that dinner a lot sooner.

"You wound me." He said with mock hurt, causing her to smile. It was hard work forcing that mouth the do anything but frown, but when he did it was worth it.

"So when are we getting Mr. Solo back then? I'm tired of having to see his sad excuse for a ship in my hangar bay."

Leia swatted him lightly, but there was no force behind it. "Harry be nice. It's not the ships fault Han is lousy at maintenance."

Now it was Harry's turn to smile.

"As for your question, I'm not sure yet. With your help I certainly have the resources to pull a successful rescue off. Let's talk about it again after you finish your assignment. Han's not in any danger right now."

Harry nodded, secretly happy she didn't have plans to free the smuggler from his Carbon prison just yet.

* * *

 **Yes, the ship is named after the creature from Fantastic Beasts(the Niffler is my favorite by the way). An apt name though, considering its stuffed full of gold at the moment.**

 **As always reviews are welcome.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Morning Peeps, it's been a while. Sorry it took so long, but trying to figure out the Star Wars timeline is like trying to unravel a tangled fishing line without using your hands. I'm still not sure if it's completely kosher but I just can't read another spin off book. (Sobs uncontrollably)**

 **In the end I cooked up my own plot.**

 **Anyway, enjoy.**

He'd cast the Fidelius many times before, and the charm had never faltered. Case in point the Falcon had disappeared from sight for anyone other than Harry and Leia, whom he'd picked as secret keeper simply because she knew of his secret project to cloak Home One.

The problem was that the second the ship moved the charm came crashing down, and had done spectacular amounts of electronics damage to the Correlian Freighter as a result.

He'd spent the better part of day listening to Chewie growl and roar in disapproval as he helped mend the affected systems. Having C3PO there to translate didn't help matters, but Wookie's were so damn hard to understand. Honestly, Harry didn't know how Han did it.

Repeated attempts on dummy craft were met with equal success, or lack thereof. Heck, Harry had even conjured a full sized English cottage in the hanger and applied the charm on it, only to have it come apart when he levitated the thing over by a foot.

The crew was amused at his experiments, and liked to check in on what their eccentric captain was up to in their spare time.

It seemed the charm was adverse to physical movement, which was ridiculous since the Earth spun on its axis, around the sun, which rotated within the Orion arm of the Milky way, which itself was moving in relation to just about everything else in the bloody Universe.

To top it off the charm worked while the Niffler was in hyperspace! But noooo, move the object hidden by a few millimetres and its game over!

He sat down on one of the rune stones and groaned.

Damn, whatever he was sitting on was hard as a rock. It took a minute, but he got there eventually.

"Sweet Maive!" the wizard hollered, jumping up and inspecting the granite cube sitting next to some shipping crates more closely.

That stone! It was the key stone for the charm and had to be located away from the object being hidden! He'd completely forgotten about it.

Merlin he was so stupid.

The other stones couldn't move in relation to this one!

All right, he saw the issue now. It was simple really, all he had to do was disseminate one of the trickiest pieces of magic he'd ever bothered to master and modify it so the ward stone was self-contained within the ward matrix.

Piece of cake, right?

Several weeks later…

"That's it!" he yelled, flipping the table over with a satisfying grunt and spilling countless pages of flimsy all over the floor before storming out of the room. He'd wasted enough time on this damn project, and had more pressing matters that required his attention. Like how to Chewbacca proof the fresher. Damn fur ball kept clogging the loo!

Storming from his private quarters he crossed paths with a pair of Rebels on loan to him who were laughing at something he didn't catch.

That was good.

The crew seemed, if not happy, at least content. Having luxuries such as hot water showers, a proper cafeteria and a full sized running track with adjacent gym had a lot to do with it. That and simply cutting people some slack.

Magic could do a lot of things, and if a few runes and spells could free up some maintenance hours for his engineering personnel to mingle with the rest of the crew on the social night then he would definitely strive to make that happen.

The crew as a result had accepted him more or less. They were skeptical initially that an individual from a pre-space faring planet was in charge of something as large as a destroyer but Harry was a quick learner, and leaned heavily on the crew's expertise in matters concerning starship operations.

In addition to working on the thrice damned Fidelius problem for Home One he'd been hitting the books, trying to cram a multi-year officers program the rebels preferred into a few short months.

The trip to Earth had been a dry run, and he hadn't done too badly. But a supply run was different from…say a chance encounter with an Imperial star Destroyer.

Of course the right protocol to that particular scenario was simply to run like hell.

During his brief cool off walk he'd made it to the aft sections of the ship and back again. Waving his hand over the door control he sighed before dropping his wand from its holster and cleaned up his mess.

It was time to face the music.

Mothma was going to be pissed.

"I've hit a snag with the cloak." Potter broke the bad news a half hour later, having taken a small shuttle from the Niffler to Home One in the center of the fleet.

On the way over he observed an Alderanian Corvette undock from the much larger whitish gray vessel, presumably having completed taking on supplies.

Ever since performing the expansion charms the Mon Calamari Cruiser had begun performing the role of a logistics ship, what with it being able to hold nearly all of the Alliances equipment now.

Even now a group of dedicated shipwrights was retrofitting one of the largest spaces to hold massive fuel bladders, to be filled at a latter point and used for the rest of the fleet to draw from.

Purchasing and transporting large amounts of starship fuel was always an instant red flag for the Empire from what he'd been told, so the Rebels would hit one of the large refining planets once the refits were completed, most likely Malastare and clean the place out.

The middle aged woman raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. Merlin only knew where she found the time to do not only that but apply makeup as well. Especially make up that wouldn't slouch off your face in the hundred plus degree heat.

He was sweating slightly, though not because of the Woman in front of him. The Alien Cruisers were too bloody hot. And humid! It reminded Harry of central America. You know, before it was buried under a kilometer thick slab of ice.

"As in it's not possible right now. Sure if you give me two years I might be able to figure it out, but in the short term it can't be done." He held up his hands in what he hoped was a placating manner. "Ok, I know what you're going to say, but before you go and jettison me out of the nearest air lock have a look at this."

He handed her a data pad.

Leia stood nearby, smirking at his horrible attempt to appease the Career politician after breaking the news that no, he couldn't cloak Home One as he previously said he could.

She'd been present when the Alliance's Wizard had waltzed in and broke the news. It surprised her, seeing him like this. Two weeks ago he was all fire and brimstone and now it was like watching a nervous ensign try to explain why a newly commissioned warship had a fat dent in its durasteel hull from an errant space rock.

Had her reaction last night really impacted him that much?

"How the hell could I have known that a Fidelius doesn't work on moving objects? The final ward stone completely slipped my mind." he'd muttered yesterday evening after telling Leia, who'd come down to the hangar bay after hearing that damage control parties had been dispatched to put out an impressive fire.

She'd shaken her head in disappointment, something that stung a lot more than the cold hard vacuum of space that Mothma was sure to subject him to.

The Rebel Leader's stern expression softened slightly as she read over the report. "And you can actually pull this off?" It was a jab at his pervious broken promises but he deserved it.

"I've already completed the upgrades to my own ship. As long as you can find a source of magic every so often to recharge the stones they'll be permanent."

"Seventy percent reduction in overall mass, and a near fivefold increase in acceleration at sub light?" She read aloud.

"Yes, though with the extra power that's freed up you can also bolster shields or increase weapons recharge cycles. At least that's what my Engineering Chief said. Of course I'll have to carve cooling runes on each Turbo Laser battery, otherwise the thermal sinks will fail, probably rather spectacularly."

"And should we find a suitable location on a planet you can hide it?" she asked, revisiting the invisibility discussion and ignoring the chatty wizard's olive branch for the time being.

"Yes, though I politely ask that you keep it under half a million square meters. I'm one wizard, and my core is only so big." He looked over towards the princess and gave her a saucy wink, to which she responded by rolling her eyes.

Mothma sighed. "Well, it's a shame you can't cloak our ships as promised (he winced again) but I suppose this will have to do."

She steepled her fingers. "As for our new base, it's currently under construction. You'll be consulted as it nears completion."

Harry briefly wondered how awful the rock they chose to set up shop on if Eart- Hoth had been their last choice. Realizing the discussion had effectively concluded he excused himself, briefly looking towards Leia as if to say, 'you coming?'

She said goodbye to her friend and followed Potter out of the office.

On the way back to the Hangar he frowned, wondering how he'd become so whipped by the Muggles. Actually, that he could answer. They'd thawed him, educated him and gave him a ship. Harry owed them bigtime.

Well, at least she hadn't asked for his ship back. After all, that had been the bargain. A ship for services rendered. And now he'd have to modify nigh thirty vessels in order to uphold that bargain.

Bloody fantastic.

At least she'd given him a decent sized labour pool, so after explaining what needed doing all he'd have to do was monitor their progress and maybe make another trip to Earth for more of the magical sink stones. He'd brought quite a few back with him.

"You hitching a ride back with me?" he asked as they navigated the ships interior. She shook her head, causing the long braided ponytail to whip back and forth lightly. He pretended not to notice.

"No, I'm going to catch up with Winter for a bit."

Ah, Snow White.

"All right. Are we still on for dinner at nineteen hundred?"

She nodded, blushing slightly. Harry gave her a genuine grin. The dinners had become a regular occurrence, mainly because Harry lavished her with Earth cuisine that she was honestly too curious to turn down.

He'd made something called risotto last time and she swore it was the best that had touched her lips since that Birthday dinner on Alderaan four years ago.

Nothing had happened between the two for which she was both grateful and annoyed. Yes, he flirted on occasion like in Mon's office just now but the man was a regular gentleman. She was certain he fancied her, but unlike Han didn't push much.

Of course she hadn't given him any signs to act upon. Then again neither had she with Solo, and yet _he'd_ kissed her.

And it wasn't like Harry was timid or shy. His personality didn't fit that sort of behavior. So why was he hesistating.

Or could it be that… he was waiting for her to make the first move?

Leia didn't know if she liked a guy who didn't have the guts to ask her out.

While all this was going on in the Princesses brain Harry was thinking about whether he should change into his pajamas now or after dinner. Evelyn never seemed to mind.

Their trains of thought couldn't have been more different at that moment.

At the entrance to the Hangar bay they parted ways, and she caught herself staring at his retreating back. As did someone else. Leia turned and noticed that one of the orange suited fighter pilots had paused, then groaned when she realized it was Winter who had been watching, having just come off a shift rotation flying picket for the fleet.

Her friend had a shit eating grin on her face. Spirits, she was never going to hear the end of it.

oOo

The silence in the Nifflers captain's quarters seemed oppressing, to the point where Harry simply said; "This latest project for the fleet is going to keep us grounded for a few more weeks."

Leia scooped up another portion of food with her fork and brought it to her mouth. His statement hung in the air for a bit while she chewed and swallowed.

"If it helps the fleet I'm all for waiting until you finish. To be honest I'm surprised you suggested the additional upgrades. I thought you didn't want to work for the Rebels like that."

Harry frowned, spearing a meatball. "I'll admit it's not something I relish doing but a deal's a deal. And I couldn't deliver, so I provided her with an alternative. I don't like going back on my agreements."

She smiled genuinely. "You're an honorable man Harry. She won't think any less of you."

Harry sighed. "Thanks Leia." Switching subjects he asked. "What do you want to do after we finish here? From the sound of it the new Rebel base won't be operational for a while yet, wherever it may be."

She dabbed her mouth with a white napkin, drawing his gaze to her glossy lips.

"Well, that was one of the things I was discussing with Mon earlier today. She's pulling me for a mission that will gather the rebel leadership in one location. I don't like to speculate but it must be very important to risk such a move."

Harry's brows rose, surprised. "She's pulling you from the Niffler?"

Leia nodded cautiously. Harry had bargained with Mon heavily to keep her with him, and now she was being reassigned less than a month after the original agreement.

"She asked me to tell you, and it's only for this one meeting." She added hurriedly.

Potter didn't look pleased but kept a lid on his emotions. Of course now his guilt at not being able to deliver ebbed away, simply knowing that Mothma had done the same to him.

Besides, there was no point in getting worked up in front of her. Leia had nothing to do with it…he hoped.

"I take it this doesn't involve me?" He looked up at her, making eye contact. She looked down, frowning openly herself now. Clearly she didn't agree with Mothma's reasoning regarding Harry.

"Sorry Harry, she only told me you were needed for another mission."

Potter nodded, not really surprised the Rebel leader didn't fully trust him. He'd been a ship captain for all of a month, and forced her to reallocate valuable resources shortly after losing a sizable ground base.

"I guess I'll find out tomorrow." With a forced smile he stood and cleared the plates.

"Dessert?" he asked a few seconds later.

She smiled back and nodded.

oOo

"So you want me to go to the outer rim to escort some Brat to a small, strategically unimportant Planet ruled by a Monarchy which she happens to be the Heir to? But she isn't aware of her royal connection?"

The few gathered members of Alliance High Command looked at one another and wondered if Harry was the right fit for this sort of mission. His summary of the past twenty minutes had been to the point but blunt to say the least.

Mothma lowered her head in an unsure nod, but kept her eyes on the eccentric young man (who was at least three hundred years her senior)

"Yes" she confirmed. "But there is a certain amount of tact required when dealing with the VIP. We don't wish to alienate her or her father. Birren is not sympathetic to the Empire and offers us the chance to build a relationship that may bear fruit in the near future. In fact we have an agreement should your mission be successful." she explained, hoping to convey the importance of this endeavor to Potter.

"May I ask what this agreement entails?" He was fishing for information, but knowing the details may help him gauge whether to take this mission seriously. Mothma seemed to draw the same conclusion.

"We hope to convince them to offer refuge for Alliances non-combat personnel In the future, should the need arise."

One of his eyebrows rose. "Is that something you deem probable?" Harry asked seriously. He wasn't privy to the long term war strategy the Alliance was working towards thanks to his independent contractor status. His Spidey senses though were telling him that was going to come up at the upcoming leadership meeting.

"There is a possibility. For now we are simply being proactive."

He sighed, though not loud enough for them to overhear. He'd heard this sort of rhetoric before from Earths various heads of state, or their respective mouth pieces, now long gone. Why couldn't Politicians just speak matter-of-factly?

Harry nodded, making his decision. While not a high priority mission it did hold importance.

"Very well, walk me through the itinerary."

oOo

 **Imperial Navy Vigil Class Corvette; Iron Justice**

 **Florrum System, Sertar Sector, 72 hours later…**

"Captain, target has appeared from hyperspace and is holding position seventeen degrees off our port side. Range twenty-two thousand kilometers. Weapons are charged. Awaiting your orders."

The middle aged man chose to stand rather than sit in the Captain's seat and strained his eyes to make out the kilometer long ship Regional command had informed them of. He'd have preferred more than just his own vessel to subdue the outdated by still dangerous Destroyer, but the time sensitivity of the intelligence did not allow him to wait for reinforcements.

Fortunately his gamble to lie in wait a short ways from the regular re-emergence co-ordinates had paid off. Experience and luck had helped to keep the distance between the two ships to a minimum. In Fact they were within weapons range.

How Fortuitous.

"Target their Hyperdrive with the Forward Turbolaser Battery. Fire at will."

The Lieutenant Commander manning the weapons station adjusted the parameters of the firing solution minutely and the computer crunched the numbers in less than a second before the console lit up green, indicating the turrets had repositioned to face the correct position.

"Firing." The weapons officer stated in a detached voice. Several Salvos of lethal green energy raced across the void between the ships and impacted the hull directly.

They didn't even have deflectors up. Large fireballs erupted from the point of impact, completely silent in the vacuum of space.

"Direct hit!"

 **The Niffler**

"The hell?" Harry braced himself on a support beam as the ship shuttered violently. Only a few minutes before he'd been resting in his quarters when the call from the bridge came that they were approaching their destination.

He reached the bridge moments later, which was in a right state. "Status report!" he hollered.

"Sir, we've been hit by turbolaser fire. Reporting massive damage amidships in the upper levels. Hyper drive is offline. We've engaged deflector shields and are actively scanning for threats." His XO summarized. The man had a good head on his shoulders, having served under Jan Dodonna on the Vanguard before its destruction. Harry had headhunted him from the one of the other ships after a chance meeting for the fleet's ship captains before Operation Ringbreaker.

Any casualties?" Harry asked, the welfare of his crew paramount.

"Negative sir, looks like the section was empty when we emerged."

He nodded, slightly relieved. Ships could be mended. Dead people, not so much.

"Punch the sub lights and get us the hell out of dodge!" He ordered. "And get me eyes on the arsehole that had the audacity to shoot at us."

A chorus of 'yes sirs' came back in response. Potter himself clasped his hands behind his back in an effort to keep them form fidgeting.

 **Imperial Corvette; Iron Justice**

"Sir, the rebel ship has powered up sub light engines and is attempting to maneuver outside of weapons range." An eager First Lieutenant reported.

"Match speed and target their primary propulsion drive." The captain stated casually, not really invested in the engagement. The ship was of separatist design, and therefore rather long and needle like in appearance.

They'd cripple it and take whatever crew were lucky enough to survive prisoner. He sighed again, lamenting the fact that he'd been stationed in this sector. Sure, they regularly saw action, but it was like swatting knats.

He longed for the glorious fleet engagements that he'd trained for most of his career. Instead he hunted vermin.

Opterkin had graduated from one of the lesser Imperial Academies but proven himself competent enough to be allowed the honour of Starship command. Granted, a Vigil Class Corvette was no Star Destroyer but it was a formidable ship regardless, heavily armed and nimble. It was by far the fastest capital ship class vessels Kuat Star Drives produced.

Which is why the follow-up report from one of his more junior bridge officers surprised him so.

"Sir, the target. It's pulling away!"

The status was not a welcome one. "What? This is one of the fastest support ship the fleet fields. That old rust bucket shouldn't be able to hold a candle to it!"

The Officer grimaced, disbelief replacing fear. "Target is now traveling at sixty thousand kilometers a second and still accelerating, %50 faster than what the specs of this class of ship are estimated to be capable of. Sir, we're running at %90 sub-light."

What that meant was that while there was still some extra juice to wring from the engines it was ill advised.

 **The Niffler:**

"Status update on the Hyperdrive?" Harry asked a bit more calmly, now that they'd managed to put some distance between the Niffler and the Wedge shaped Imperial ship. The Rebel manning the internal sensors shook his head.

"Sorry Sir, but the drive is severely damaged. Engineering is all over it, but the reports suggest a containment breach in the main reactor.

Potter leaned back in the chair, rubbing his forehead.

"So we can't jump from the system and the only planet we can consider for repairs within 10 parsecs is the one we're currently flying away from?"

"Correct."

Harry muttered a string of obscenities in English that left C3PO shaking his head and the XO raising a questioning eyebrow.

He turned his attention to the sensor data and live feed from one of the aft cameras showing the low profile dagger shaped vessel still pursuing them.

"So what exactly is that thing?" he asked, not familiar with the smaller ship pursuing them.

Sora Tamil, their unofficial expert of Imperial modes of transport quickly piped in. "Sir, based on the initial scan and recorded speeds it looks to be a Vigil Class Corvette."

"Damn it Ensign, what did I say about calling me sir." Harry replied in lieu of a thank you, though she could tell there was no heat behind it.

She blushed, not used to the lax way Harry tended to talk to his crew. She'd transferred only a week prior, having defected from the Empire shortly after Alderaan was destroyed.

"All right people, what are our options? We have no Hyperdrive but can keep this bastard at arm's length almost indefinitely. Problem is once they request reinforcements we'll see fighters, and as fast as this can is it's not TIE fighter fast."

The bridge crew was used to their Captain asking for their input at this point and didn't feel the need to hold back when it came to suggestions. Quite often crew members would argue the pros and cons of a point, but ultimately the decision was Harry's.

The discussion quickly gravitated to an asteroid belt in the outer reaches of the system, and its potential value to hide within until the proverbial heat died down. But Harry was on the clock, and spending upwards of a week playing hide and seek with this little bugger was not something he had any intention of doing.

They needed to rendezvous with Rebels or risk losing the fleet when it jumped in…he glanced at his timepiece… one hundred eight standard galactic hours. About four and a half days. Yeah, that limited his options.

"Ms. Tamil, what kind of security contingent does that Imperial ship carry?" The question caused the lively discussion his navigator and weapons officer had been spearheading to still, with a wide grin on the latter's face at which direction this situation was progressing towards becoming quite clear.

"Sir, I don't think taking them on in a fight is a wise idea. The deflectors on these old separatist ships are, well to put it bluntly utter Bantha shit."

Harry smirked at the use of profanity but shook his head. "You misunderstand Ms. Tamil. I'm asking how many Storm Troopers are stationed on that thing."

Realization dawned on what exactly he was asking.

"Sir, boarding action with a ship like that would be suicidal." The slightly pacifist persona of the young woman was starting to show.

"I'm not thinking of a straight up fight here, but an elaborate trap. How bout this. We broadcast a distress signal stating our Hyperdrive is compromised and irradiating the ship."

That part was partially true. The only thing keeping the radiation at bay were the internal deflectors around the drive itself.

"Then after negotiating the terms of our surrender the Imps take us prisoner, I bust us out and we take that sweet little ride off their hands." He pointed at a camera shot of the sleek gray ship on screen.

The bridge instantly exploded in exited chatter. He sat back and listened, and simply gazing at the spinning hologram of the ship in question.

And so a mere 20 minutes later Harry stood ready, his crew devoid of weapons. The ship had been scoured for any small arms and stuffed in Harry's expandable bag, which was spelled unnoticeable. They had no schematics of the vessel, but the Niffler's captain had his ways of obtaining that information before disseminating it down to the crew.

All he needed was a crewmember that wasn't wearing a reflective helmet.

"Attention Imperial craft." Harry spoke into a nearby microphone. "We have sustained heavy damage to our hyper drive. The containment housing has failed and radiation levels are approaching lethal levels. We wish to negotiate the terms of our surrender."

The click of the channel closing could be heard. The Corvette had received the communique.

Several tense silent seconds followed. Would they take the bait, or simply dismiss it and try to destroy them outright? Considering the Nifffler hadn't returned fire the odds were good that unannounced hostilities would be unlikely, but one never knew in what mood the Imp bastard in command of the ship might be in that day.

"Rebel ship, power down your engines and deflector shields. If we detect your weapons charging you will be fired upon. Inform your crew to lie face down on the deck when we board. Failure to comply will result in death."

Well then, they took the bait. Harry had since informed the crew of the ship of his audacious plan and had broadcast the both the fake distress beacon and their attackers response ship wide.

He nodded to his officer manning the helm, who eased off the power. Alien mathematical symbols fluctuated, until the Heads up display showed a single symbol. No forward movement.

The two hundred fifty-five meter long ship was dwarfed by the skeletal looking former Banking Guild Ship as it pulled up along the starboard side. A semi ridged ship to ship corridor extended from the side of the Dark Gray vessel, connecting amid ship near the cafeteria.

A digital command opened the airlock hatch once atmosphere was detected. Scores of Storm Troopers in Shiny white armour rushed aboard, securing the entirety of the nearly 1200 meter long vessel in a manner of minutes.

The Crew they encountered did not resist and were processed with impressive speed, first cuffed and then ferried over to the Imperial ship. All of them wore civilian clothes.

A dozen of the elite Infantry entered the bridge, where Harry and his command personnel still sat around their stations.

"Step away from the consoles", the leader of the squad barked. They looked to the oddly dressed Earth man for orders, and he nodded in consent.

After being rounded up a low level Navy Officer dressed in Charcoal approached. Harry wasted no time diving into the man's mind to gain a better understanding of their new ship's layout. It was chaotic just like when he'd tried it with the Princess but he managed to glimpse the path they would take once their 'chat' had concluded.

"Are you the captain of this vessel?" he demanded, not asked. Harry could tell, the man had delusions of grandeur.

"I am. We were en route to Florrum with medical supplies when you attacked us without provocation." Hotter answered testily.

The man waived him off, not caring in the least what his business on this sad little backwater world was. "Take him to the Captain."

Harry had to suppress a grin. Letting him see the Captain so soon? This would be easier than he thought.

Two of the strapping young Troopers led him away, with the lowly Officer following up the rear.

The hired muscle took him to a sizable conference room with a view of the nose of the corvette. The room wasn't massive, perhaps large enough to seat twenty and was decorated in the standard Imperial Navy way, dark gray walls, polished black floors and uncomfortable looking chairs.

His hands were secured with bulky shackles that reminded him in shape and size of magic inhibiting cuffs. Of course these were both simpler and more advanced all at once, but he felt confident they would click open with but a wandless first year unlocking spell.

The Imperial Navy Officer emerged, flanked by a pair of White bookends. They shouldn't be an issue.

"I am Captain Opterkin, Commander of this ship." Harry introduced himself in return, sticking to the cover story Alliance Intelligence had cooked up for him. He had fake documentation placing him in half a dozen systems to support his claim of being a freighter captain.

"Spare me the elaborate backstory Captain Harry, no one carries cargo in a former Droid Destroyer of all things. This is clearly a warship and seeing as you're not flying under an independent systems flag I have reason to believe you may be sympathetic to the Rebellion."

He put on a good show of protesting the treatment of his ship and crew until the Captain grew bored and went to dismiss him.

"Imperio" the Wizard whispered. Performing the spell windlessly was taxing but once control was established it was no more difficult than if he had used a wand.

"Stop." Opterkin ordered, and the two guards stilled. The man walked up to Harry and pulled a container from his breast pocket.

"Take him." The middle aged man said, and Potter was carted off. The good Captain left the boardroom under Harry's mental control and carrying a gas pressure vessel.

Its contents were a highly effective knock out gas.

Harry rejoined his employees in the brig, which was actually pretty fancy, with pale blue force fields and spotless floors. The ship must have been recently commissioned, because the entire thing, from the hallways to the airlock was squeaky clean.

He liked it. A lot.

"Well, this should be everyone, right?" He looked around the cells. The fifty strong crew he'd assembled were all here. A pair of Storm Troopers and a bored looking junior officer were all that prevented him from walking out that door. Once he'd apparated to the other side of the containment field of course. He made sure the crack was extra loud in an effort to distract the trio on guard duty.

The lightning quick stunners felled the Combatants, much to the surprise of his own crew, who weren't aware he was already going on the offensive.

That was the point, it would have been hard to give them the heads up without tipping off their jailors in the process.

The force field went down and Harry began pulling Blasters from his bag. With a mental command he took control of the Captain, who up until that point had been unaware his body was no longer his own.

Casually the older man accessed the internal security protocols for the ship and locked down the doors leaving a clear path from the Brig to the bridge. With the threat of the onboard Storm Trooper garrison out of the way Opterkin activated the gas canister.

The hissing was audible to everyone, but there was little they could do. A few of the quicker thinking individuals bolted towards the exit before collapsing. One tried to cover their face with their sleeve.

Within a minute the Bridge of the corvette was neutralized.

Potter's original command crew followed him through the maze of corridors, while the others stayed put.

The final door slid open revealing the slumped over figures of the Captain and crew members.

The half dozen or so extra bodies he'd brought along dragged the unconscious officers out of the Room and back towards the brig. Meanwhile, with the recently acquired access codes Harry locked out engineering and proceeded to lower the O2 content in the life support system to around fourteen percent.

The Atmospheric Hypoxia robbed the remaining crew of consciousness in short order. The Niffler's crewmembers still in the brig sprang into action, essentially collecting and depositing nearly two hundred Imperial Navy Personnel in the now woefully inadequate holding cells. Harry had to be called down in order to expand them a little while later.

The entire OP took less than an hour from start to finish and when it was all said and done he'd bagged himself a shiny, sleek new ship for his troubles.

After getting their new prisoners settled in Harry ordered the second shift rotation of the Niffler's bridge crew back onto the ship and make for Florrum's largest ship yard with a large sum of credits. Hopefully they had the facilities to repair the Hyperdrive, or better yet a replacement drive.

Perhaps he'd enlist the help of the Corvette's engineering officers. They'd fall in line when he told them they'd be transported on the ship they were supposed to fix. No one in their right mind would sabotage the very boat they would be transported on.

With the Niffler under the temporary command of a young Rebel Lieutenant and the Iron Justice, as he'd learned this ship was called in the care of his trusty XO Harry took a small shuttle to the surface of the planet.

With his usual entourage playing distraction for an important Rebel brass meeting he'd selected two of his crew to fill in for them. Jeddack and Evaan were their names. They were on loan to him from the Rebels for the duration of this mission.

He didn't know them very well but they came recommended from Celchu. That girl had been undercover more times than he thought was healthy but it made her an excellent judge of character.

They were also trained in infiltration, small arms tactics and hand to hand, all things you wanted to know when going on a fieldtrip to Florrum's largest settlement.

"All right, let's split up." He ordered once they'd landed. "Alliance intel was a bit vague about where exactly this lass was or exactly what kind of work she was doing to support herself." He looked around, taking in the sad state of this place. The buildings were decapitated, the streets nothing more than muddy ruts in the ground.

There were drunks, prostitutes and pirates of every species aplenty, with no sort of law enforcement to be seen.

And that was just the ruddy spaceport. He turned and set up a few quick perimeter wards around their shuttle. Muggle repellant and intent based. Problem with the muggle ones were his own team wouldn't be able to get back about without him dropping them.

"Here, take this. If you need to exfil just say the word 'Portus'." He made them repeat the strange English word a half dozen times so it stuck before handing over a standard ration bar you could buy from any street vendor from Tatooine to Curoscant.

"Now off you go. Radio me if you have visual confirmation." With a curt nod they left, blending seamlessly into the crowd.

Potter left too, and it took all of forty-five seconds before some asshole Gran junkie tried to jump him. Harry figured he needed to make an example of what would happen if someone messed with him and shot a blasting hex at the back of the three eyed goat faced creatures head after sidestepping the clumsy knife thrust.

The bang and shower of gore certainly got everyone's attention, but not like the ice cold look he shot anyone brave enough to make eye contact. It wasn't long before word spread not to mess with the human wearing the Maroon colored coat in town.

Harry sighed, wondering how he'd ended up in the ass crack of the galaxy.

With each member of the 'away team' (he couldn't resist) designated to their own search area he began pub crawling, though not in the traditional sense. Harry soon found the first cantina and entered, instantly drawing the gazes of the more sober patrons and staff.

Blending in would have been ideal but he didn't have time to order a drink and nurse it while low key scoping out every establishment.

After a while it became obvious that he was looking for someone by the way he entered, scanned a room, and promptly left again. A few stupid individuals hadn't liked the way he 'looked' at them, but Harry made another example of them, this time with less mess and more precision piecing hexes through craniums.

After all he'd feel bad if some poor waitress had to clean up guts and brains from the tables because of him.

But even the bar hopping, if it could be called that didn't get him anywhere.

In the end he was forced to resort to more advanced techniques. Selecting a long faced Muun(haa, get it?) he quickly imperio'd the alien before asking one question. "Do you know a human named Sandera Dacia?"

The first seventeen times the answer was always 'No', at which point he released them from the spell and moved on, though always obliviating the last few minutes of their memory.

He didn't wish to waste his limited supply of truth serum and the Unforgivables were darn useful when there was no governing body to forbid them.

Finally on the eighteenth go around the answer was yes.

"Brilliant." Was the pleased response. "Where can I find her?"

"Zatara Ward. The beige coloured shipping crates stacked seven high. Forth story, unit 207."

Harry asked where she worked as well and if she had any suitors where she might end up spending time.

With a better fix on her location he radioed the others to meet him at the location he'd gleaned from the Female Farghul.

He didn't have to guess what she did, with her cat like features mated to a humanoid body.

Harry strode off, leaving the confused female to her own devises. Unbeknownst to him a hooded figure moved from the behind the support arch of a nearby catwalk, silently in pursuit.

"You work quickly." Evaan stated once he'd explained which unit was Dacia's. Clearly they'd expected this to take longer. Harry though needed to get this wrapped up right quick. The Corvette they'd taken from the Imperial Navy would fail to link up with a larger task force in… a little over half a standard day.

He knew this after questioning the Captain, again using the Imperius. Not being able to perform proper Legilimency on these humans was becoming a nuisance.

But back to the Imps. Once the Iron Justice became a no show ships would no doubt be dispatched to find out what happened to her. He needed to secure his primary objective and get a replacement drive for the Niffler before that happened.

Heck, even having the parts and doing the repairs in the vast asteroid belt in the outer reaches of the star system would suffice. Even with a hundred ships it would take months to search the belt effectively.

"Jeddack, position yourself at the back of the complex. If she manages to run I need you to intercept."

The man nodded, agreeing it was a good course of action.

"Evaan, you're with me. Having another female to talk to will hopefully make her less jumpy. Remember, we know nothing of this girl. She could be honest and hardworking or a Snake in the grass. Being an orphan from a young age her environment will have molded her, so I'm betting on the latter."

He didn't bother trying to justify _that_ reasoning with the way he'd been brought up.

The large surplus shipping units were stacked in such a way that you could fit hundreds in a relatively small footprint. They were long and narrow, with bar grating making up the walking surface on the outside. Most section didn't even have any railings.

They arrived at the designated unit, the foreign looking symbols translating to the right numbers in Harry's head. He rapped on the worn durasteel door. For the next minute nothing happened.

Not for the first time Potter wished there was a transparency spell that allowed him to look through walls. He repeated the action, this time with a bit more force; "Sandera Dacia? I have urgent matters to discuss."

Nothing.

Harry locked eyes with the Rebel on the other side of the door frame and drew his wand.

The silent unlocking spell caused the door to click. A shield spell on the tip of his tongue he pushed the rust coloured door open, revealing a darkened room. There were no windows, which made it immediately clear that their target was simply not home, seeing how there wasn't a second exit.

Just to be sure he cast a Homo Revelio, which came back as one contact, that being Evaan, as well as the yellow coloured unknowns that marked the unidentified alien sapients in the adjacent units.

They quickly snooped around, careful not to disturb too much in case they couldn't locate her before she came back. Harry threw up a detection ward on the door threshold that would inform him if and when that happened.

"All right, let's try her place of work." He sighed. On the way down he checked in with his Engineering Chief. They'd located a spare drive but the dealer was a slimy grease ball who wanted to rip them off.

Harry ordered the release of sufficient funds to cover the purchase as well as some hush money and a promise of a painful death should the seller talk to anyone about the transaction or the buyer.

He didn't care too much about unfair deals. Funds were not an issue.

Time was.

They navigated the dusty uneven streets, making for the red-light district. Harry frowned. Of course she'd be working in a place like this.

Oh, the Monarch of Birren was going to be thrilled when he heard about this.

It had been well over two hundred years since he'd been intimate, and the wide array of species competing to lighten his pockets could make any male weak in the knees, much less a sheltered Earthling like him.

Though his head never turned it was hard to keep his eyes averted. He'd later blame this lapse in concentration for the ambush they would walk into moments later. It kicked off with a blaster bolt impacting the tough dragon hide robes he'd gotten accustomed to wearing, right where he heart was located.

The coat definitely saved his life but did a real number on the scaly material. Unfortunately for the shooter he never got off a second shot. Harry's curse was off a bit off target but wholly overpowered, impacting low and to the left of the target.

The Reducto gouged out a meter and a half diameter sphere of the local rock used to construct much of the older, more constricted neighborhood and peppered the blue Duros with enough shrapnel that the locals would be finding bits of him for weeks to come.

The two rebels pulled their own blasters and engaged targets of opportunity. It seemed the locals had been in on it or they were just really good at making themselves scarce when the shooting started. Either way they'd evaporated like water pouring onto a hot desert rock.

At least they wouldn't have to worry about civilian casualties. A Protecto shielded Jeddack from an untimely demise while he blasted a Thordashian in the face. Harry approved, and sent a flame whip at an entrenched human firing from under a covered walkway, wrapping the hot magical fire around his neck.

The man screamed for all of three seconds before the fire greedily pulled the last of the air from his dying lungs.

With a pull the body, now unrecognizable from the shoulders up jerked in front of another blaster bolt meant for the Wizard. He quickly animated the corpse, which began firing the blaster it was still clutching at its allies.

Their horrified looks were clear despite the odd facial features. Fear was universal, and these guys were practically oozing it at the moment.

Evaan looked a bit green around the ears, though it didn't seem to affect her accuracy. With a sweet shot she picked off a sniper that had tried to relocate to a better vantage point, hitting him with a handheld blaster from close to eighty yards away. Harry would be hard pressed to do the same with his wand, yet alone with a muggle laser gun.

As quickly as the fighting started it was over again. The few survivors wisely retreated, breaking contact as fast as their biological bodies allowed them to run.

Potter and company didn't stick around either though were much more aware of their surroundings, sticking close to cover and taking unpredictable turns every so often, all the while keeping their weapons drawn and eyes peeled.

Time to pick up their wayward Princess. Well, another one anyway.

 **A/N: I had to break the chapter here, otherwise it would have stretched 17,000 words, and that seems a bit excessive. But what it does mean is that the next chapter is locked and loaded. Salivating yet? Good, muahaha.**

 **Also, I didn't like the look of Harry's first ship. So I got him a new one. Say what you will about the Empire, but they build sexy looking starships!**


End file.
